


Lost Tribe Of The Jedi

by Golddude22



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24605257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golddude22/pseuds/Golddude22
Summary: After their fleet is ambushed and they are forced to abandon ship, Anakin, Obi-wan, Ahsoka, Rex, Luminara and Barriss end up on an uninhabited world with only their wits to keep them alive as they await rescue.But as the weeks begin to pass they are forced to admit that they might be stuck here for the rest of their lives....
Relationships: Barriss Offee/Anakin Skywalker, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Luminara Unduli
Comments: 35
Kudos: 114





	1. Ambushed

**Author's Note:**

> Just a few notes for this story.
> 
> It's set just after the events of the Clone Wars episode Duchess of Mandalore.  
> Barriss and Anakin have been friends since their mission to Anison.  
> Set in the year 21BBY.  
> Anakin is married to Padmé.

On the bridge of Dooku's flagship the lights were dimmed to simulate evening as the droids of it's crew moved silently about their tasks while the Count observed a hologram of an out of the way system in the outer-rim.

This uninhabited and until now unimportant system was about to play a big role in the future of the galaxy, if his master's plan succeeded.

Behind him, the bridge doors hissed open and the sound of clunking feet entered the bridge.

“You're late” Dooku said irately, not turning.

“Apologies, my lord” Grevious hissed “It took longer than expected to crush the republic fleet over Dantooine”

Dooku waved off the apology.

“No matter, I have a new mission for you” he replied, enhancing the holo.

“My master has informed me that the republic is massing a fleet above Aradorn IX in preparation for an attack on our droid factory in orbit above Peragus II”

“Republic scum!” Grevious growled “Let me take a fleet and crush them”

Dooku allowed a smile to cross his face.

“That is precisely why I have called you here, I'm giving you command of three battle fleets which you will take to Aradorn and annihilate them”

“With pleasure” Grevious rasped with an evil chuckle.

“General Kenobi is in command of the fleet but Skywalker and Unduli will also be present, they will have fully gathered five days from now” Dooku added.

“Urgh, I will destroy them!” Grevious snarled.

“You can kill Kenobi and Unduli but my master has other plans for Skywalker. Lord Sidious wants you to capture him alive and bring him to me, he will be most displeased if you fail” Dooku said.

“I will not fail!” Grevious retorted, stalking from the room.

“See that you do not” Dooku said to Grevious's departing back.

  


* * *

  


Anakin and Obi-wan stood on the bridge of the Negotiator, watching the slowly rotating green orb that was Aradorn IX. 

“I've never felt anything like” Anakin said, staring transfixed at the planet.

“Nor have I” Obi-wan replied.

“It's like a wellspring of the force but not as strong and yet it feels....” he trailed off not knowing how to describe it.

“Rejuvenating?” Obi-wan suggested.

“Kind of, but more so, like it's washing away the last year of fighting we've been through” Anakin replied wistfully.

Obi-wan paused for a moment and let his senses spread out and search himself.

“You're right” he said after a while “Things don't feel as... dark, or heavy as they did”

“It's great” Anakin said, closing his eyes and letting the force emanating from Aradorn IX wash over him again.

“Yes, it is” Obi-wan replied “Though whatever it is is playing hell with our sensors, nothing can get a read on the world”

“Hmm” Anakin said thoughtfully “Maybe once this war is over we can come back and check it out?”

“I'd like that” Obi-wan said quietly “Something to look forward to instead of just endless fighting”

“We could even build a retreat here, a place the Jedi could come to clear their minds and relax in something pure” Anakin said with enthusiasm.

“Yes” Obi-wan said, smiling at the younger man's excitement.

They stood there watching it for a while longer, then the Captain of the Negotiator approached them.

“Generals, General Unduli's shuttle is approaching” he announced.

“Thank you Captain, have someone meet them and escort them to the briefing room and alert the others as well” Obi-wan said.

“Yes General” he replied, heading back to his post.

Obi-wan returned his gaze to the view port with a weary sigh.

“Well, I suppose we should head to the briefing room” he said.

“Yes, the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can finish this war and come back here” Anakin replied.

They turned and made their way off the bridge and down to the briefing room, both looking forward to working with Luminara and Barriss again after their campaign together on Geonosis.

When they reached the briefing room Cody, Rex Ahsoka and Admiral Yularen were already waiting for them.

The clones and the Admiral nodded to them when they entered while Ahsoka gave them a smile.

“I take it General Unduli has arrived?” Yularen asked.

“Yes” Obi-wan replied “She'll be with us shortly, then we can tell you why we're out here”

“I still don't see why we needed to be kept in the dark” Ahsoka complained.

Rex and Cody made noises of agreement.

“This mission is of vital importance” Anakin answered “If successful it will permanently shift the war in our favour and bring us a lot closer to victory”

He had their attention now.

“Because of the importance of the mission and due to the fact that the enemy has had advanced warning of our last several campaigns, the council decided it was best to keep the target known to as few as possible, so only myself, Obi-wan, several members of the council and the Supreme Chancellor know where we're going”

“So not even Master Luminara knows where we're going?” Ahsoka asked.

“No, I don't” Luminara replied, stepping through the door with Barriss and Commander Gree behind her “Now that we're all here perhaps you can enlighten us”

“Of course” Obi-wan replied with a smile “Good to see you again”

“Likewise” Luminara replied, returning his smile.

“Yes, we've been looking forward to this” Anakin added, giving Luminara a respectful bow.

“And good to see you too, Barriss” he continued, giving her a smile, she was one of the only Jedi friends he had and they'd stayed in touch since their mission together on Anison.

“Master Skywalker” Barriss said with a slightly teasing smile and faintly blushing.

“Urgh, don't say that, it'll go to his head” Ahsoka said as she came over, Barriss placed the bag she carrying on the ground and gave her friend a hug.

“I think it's too late for that” Luminara said wryly, making both younger girls snort.

“Hey” Anakin complained, though he was smiling. 

They greeted Gree as well, then they all moved over to the holotable and Obi-wan brought up a display of their target. A massive space station, bristling with defensive weapons.

“This is our target” he began “the Foundry, a Corporate Alliance manufacturing station in orbit around Peragus II”

“Before the war it produced a multitude of different goods for the corporation including service droids, air and land speeders and datapads. Now though, it is one of the largest producers of weapons for the Separatists in the galaxy, producing over twenty million battle droids, tanks and other weapons and war machines every month”

The clones and Ahsoka whistled, while the others focused more intently on the station.

“That's a lot of clankers” Rex said softly.

“Yes, so destroying it will severely limit their reinforcement capabilities for a long time” Anakin said.

“And will allow us to press the advantage” Gree said.

“Exactly” Obi-wan agreed “Now we just need to find a way to achieve it”

“Well considering the things you lot have managed to pull off I'm sure it won't take long” Yularen said drily.

  


* * *

  


Several hours later, they were still at it. But considering all the problems they needed to overcome, Anakin wasn't surprised.

Firstly, there was the fleet assigned to guard it, which wasn't really a problem because, although they had similar numbers to their own, they were all smaller Munificent class frigates compared to their Venator class star destroyers.

Then there was the station itself, with it's heavy shields and numerous turbo lasers, on top of it's fighter compliment which could be anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand.

And once they were past all that they had to destroy it somehow. If only they could....

“What if while our main force attacks from this side, I bring the Resolute around this side and board it through these cargo hangers?” he suggested.

“That could work” Luminara said after a moment, bringing up a detailed schematic of that area.

“If it's focused on the fighting on this side it's shields shouldn't be as strong, so the Resolute should be able to punch through them and allow us to deploy gunships right into the hanger, then we'd have a straight shot to the command centre” she concluded.

“But you'd be in there with millions of battle droids, depending on when they last sent out a shipment” Barriss commented.

“The 501st can handle it” Rex said confidently.

“So can the 212th “ Gree said.

“They won't be a problem if we can get Artoo to a terminal, he'll be able to hack in and shut down most of the station” Anakin said, patting the little droid on his dome.

“For that to work you'd need to jump in on the far side of Peragus II and come around in a low orbit so they don't detect you” Obi-wan mused “Other than that, I think that will be our best chance to catch them unaware”

“And if we put all our battalions onboard before hand, it'd be cramped but if it's only for a day I think we'll all fit” Ahsoka added.

“Yes and then-” Luminara began but was cut off when a lieutenant burst into the room.

“A separatist fleet just came out of hyperspace!” he yelled.

There was a moment of stunned silence as everyone processed what he'd just said, then they were all rushing for the bridge.

“What's happening Captain?” Obi-wan demanded.

“A separatist armada just came out of hyperspace, they're coming in fast and are in attack formation” the Captain replied.

“How many are there?” Anakin demanded.

“Bringing it up now”

They all turned to the tactical holo's as the Captain fed the relevant data through.

What they saw wasn't good, 40 Munificent class frigates and 5 Providence class dreadnoughts spreading out to box them in while squadron after squadron of droid fighters, bombers and boarding craft raced towards them.

“I thought this was a secret mission” Barriss said, watching the closing fleet with concern.

“It was” Obi-wan replied darkly “Which means someone has betrayed us”

“Could someone onboard have given away our position?” Ahsoka asked.

“No, we've been under comm silence since we began the mission and they couldn't have followed Lunimara's fleet because they wouldn't have had time to assemble a fleet of that size in the time that she's been here” Obi-wan replied.

“What are we going to do then?” Ahsoka asked, sounding worried.

“Can we retreat?” Anakin asked after a moment, not really wanting to but knowing they had to preserve their fleets for the attack on the Foundry. 

“No General” the Captain replied “They're blocking the only viable hyperspace route”

“Send a call for aid then, Master Plo and the 104th are nearby” Luminara said.

The Captain rushed over to the comms station but returned moments later.

“I can't reach anyone, they're jamming us” he informed them.

“Looks like we're going to have to fight” Anakin muttered, turning to the admiral “Suggestions Admiral?”

The Admiral was quiet for a moment, studying the display.

“First we need to deploy our fighter screen, otherwise we're not going to last long against those bombers. Then I think our best bet is to try blow through their formation and escape into hyperspace because we don't have the strength to stand and fight” Yularen replied.

Obi-wan nodded “Give the orders Admiral and tell the fighters to focus on the bombers and boarding craft”

“Yes General” he replied, moving over to the command station.

“Captain, sound general quarters and tell all troops to prepare to repel boarders” Obi-wan added.

The Captain nodded and pressed the general quarters alert. Throughout the ship alarms sounded and their men prepared for battle.

Then their fleet began to respond to the Admiral's orders, slowly moving into a tighter, more defensive formation as their hulls opened and fighters poured out.

Anakin watched as their pilots flew out to meet the enemy, desperately wanting to join them but his fighter was on the Resolute, with no way of getting to it now.

Less than a minute later, the two forces met with numerous explosions erupting among them as the fighters began their deadly dance and the comms chatter lit up.

_...Watch your tail Nova six..._

_...Someone get him off me..._

_...Urgh..._

_...Oddball look out..._

_...Hold tight Blue five I'm coming..._

_...There's too man-..._

_...Gold two break right.._

_...Get him..._

Behind the fighters came the bombers and boarding craft, splitting into nine columns each one headed for a different Venator.

“There's too many of them” Ahsoka said in growing horror, watching the readouts which were displaying their growing loses and what they were up against. Currently it was showing a ratio of five to one against their fighters.

Obi-wan and Luminara were holding a whispered debate and didn't respond and everyone else was too busy watching the unfolding battle.

Except Barriss, who was standing between her and Anakin. She opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the Admiral's urgent shout.

“Resolute intensify forward fire!”

All eyes snapped to the Resolute as four wings of bombers began their attack run. The Resolute and it's fighters responded valiantly, destroying dozens of bombers, but it was not enough.

They all watched on in horror as the bombers fired as one, launching wave after wave of torpedoes at the Resolute, punching through it's shields and slamming into it's hull.

Anakin let out an anguished gasp as the tactical readouts displayed the results, reporting catastrophic hull damage and major systems failure before a final volley destroyed the bridge, cutting off the feed.

Anakin was so caught up in the storm of emotions he felt watching his men die that he flinched when a hand touched his arm. 

He looked down to find Barriss holding his arm, he swallowed with difficulty and gave her a jerky nod. 

On her other side Ahsoka let out a gasp that was almost a sob as they watched the ship that had been their home for the last year break apart.

“All our men” she whispered, despair radiating off her.

Beside her, Barriss put a consoling hand on her shoulder but didn't say anything as the battle continued, what could you say to something like that.

“This isn't going to work” Obi-wan muttered to Luminara as two more of their cruisers were destroyed by waves of droid bombers.

“We can't outrun those bombers, even if we retreat they'll just chase us down” Luminara replied, though she shared Obi-wan's opinion.

“I know” Obi-wan replied wearily “I don't think we're going to walk away from this one”

The look she gave him told him she agreed with his assessment.

Anakin wasn't quite so restrained with his opinion.

“Get us out of her Admiral” he snapped as the bombers approached their ship.

Yularen didn't respond, his attention was entirely focused on the tactical displays, calling out orders almost non stop as he tried to salvage the situation.

Another of their cruisers exploded spectacularly, setting the Admiral's face in grim lines.

“This isn't going to work” he told the Generals as the ship was rocked by explosions “Those bombers are using ordinance I've never encountered before and we can't fight through them, we've lost too much. Our only chance now may-”  
Whatever he was going to say was cut off as a torpedo smashed through their weakened shields and slammed into the bridge.

Transparisteel and hull shattered, lethal fragments spraying through the room, cutting down anyone in their path.

Yularen and Gree were closest to the impact and took the worst of the damage while Anakin, who was next to them was flung against the far wall by the blast, cracking his head on a bulkhead and crumpling to the ground.

The rest of the group was mostly protected by the holotable and tactical displays, only being knocked to the ground and suffering minor cuts and bruises .

The blast also sucked the atmosphere out of the bridge, until the blast shields came down, restoring the hulls integrity.

“Damage report!” Obi-wan yelled getting to his feet and helping Luminara up.

One of the few surviving crew members, Ged he thought, staggered to his feet and went to the only working console.

“Not good General” Ged said “Major hull damage and the reactor's breached”

“Can you lock it down?” Obi-wan asked, stepping up behind him.

“I'll try sir”

Back over at the holotable Barriss was slowly picking herself up, trying to shake the ringing from her ears. There was something streaming down her cheek and when wiped it her hand came away bloody, but it didn't feel serious so she left it and looked around for her friends.

Her master, Rex and Cody were helping the surviving bridge crew, none looked seriously hurt, Master Obi-wan looked like he was assessing the damage. Turning her head she saw Ahsoka crawling to where her Master lay motionless and Gree and the Admiral unmoving beside her.

Swallowing her despair, she moved over to them, knowing there was nothing she could do for them but needing to check anyway.

A quick examination confirmed her fears, they were dead and nothing she could do would bring them back.

“I'm sorry” she whispered, allowing herself a moment to mourn their deaths, before moving over to where Ahsoka was growing increasingly desperate over her master's condition.

“He won't respond” Ahsoka said when Barriss reached them “And I can't feel him anymore” she added with a sob, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks.

“Let me have a look” Barriss said, gently but firmly pushing Ahsoka out of the way and placing a hand on Anakin's forehead.

Reaching out to him in the force, she felt a moment of panic when she couldn't feel feel him either, as she reached deeper though, she found his faint presence and let out a sigh of relief.

“He's alright” she told Ahsoka, who let out a sob of relief “Just going to have one hell of a headache”

“Thank you” Ahsoka whispered, wrapping her friend in a tight hug.

“That's alright” Barriss replied, taking comfort from the hug as well.

As she said that Anakin began to stir, her contact with his mind must have brought him out of the coma.

His eyes opened briefly then slammed shut again with a gasp of pain.

“What happened?” he asked, grimacing through the pain.

“We got hit by a concussion missile I think” Barriss answered.

“How bad?” he asked, opening his eyes again and trying to focus on her. Barriss gave an internal sigh of relief, if he was asking questions his head injury mustn't be too bad.

“Pretty bad” Barriss replied, attempting to take the edge off his pain “From what Obi-wan's saying we may have to abandon ship”

Anakin let out another groan and attempted to get up.

“No, don't move” Barriss ordered, putting her hands on his shoulders and pushing him back down again “You've got a concussion and maybe a brain injury”

“I'mm alright” he muttered, but he did stop moving. 

“Just give me a minute to assess it alright?” Barriss said.

“Okay” he replied, closing his eyes again.

Immersing herself in the force, Barriss set to work, slowly healing the damage to Anakin's head, observed closely by Ahsoka.

  


* * *

  


“It's no good General” Ged said “The damage is too severe and the computer predicts total failure and detonation in twenty two minutes”

“Damn” Obi-wan groaned.

“What?” Luminara asked, joining them at the console.

“The reactor's going to blow in about twenty minutes” he told her grimly “We're going to have to abandon ship”

A look of concern flashed across her face, but it lasted only a moment before it was replaced by determination.

“Have you given the order to evacuate yet?” she asked.

“No, I was just about to” he replied “How are the others?”

“Commander Gree and Admiral Yularen are dead” she informed him, a hint of the pain she felt leaking through her shields “Barriss is examining Anakin now but I don't think it's serious and the others only have minor injuries”

Obi-wan closed his eyes for a moment, forcing down the guilt that threatened to overwhelm him.

“It's not your fault” Luminara said quietly.

“I'm in command, everything is ultimately my fault” he replied.

“But blaming yourself won't help anything now” she shot back.

He sighed. 

“You're right”

Then he turned back to Ged.

“Give the order to evacuate” he told him “Then get yourself to an escape pod”

“Yes General”

Once the order was given and the alert began playing over the intercom, Obi-wan moved over to the holocomm.

“What are you doing?” Luminara asked as he fired up the holo recorder.

“In case we don't survive, the council needs to know there's a traitor in the Chancellor's office” he told her.

“What makes you think they're in the Chancellor's office?”

“Because only the Chancellor and a few members of the council knew of our mission aside from Anakin and myself and I don't believe Masters Windu, Fisto or Tiin are working for the separatists” he replied with a hint of a grin.

Despite their situation Luminara couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of any of those masters secretly working for Dooku.

“Point taken. Alright let's record this message and get out of here”

  


* * *

  


“How does that feel?” Barriss asked as she removed her hands from Anakin's head and sat back with a sigh.

“Much better” he replied “The spinning's stopped and it no longer feels like my head’s about to explode” 

“Good” she said, leaning over him again and looking into his eyes “You've still got a concussion but you should be fine if you take it easy”

“I will” he promised.

“I'll make sure he does” Ahsoka said with a stern look at her master.

“Would you like to sit up?” Barriss asked, in healer mode, ignoring Ahsoka.

“Yes, I need to find out what's going on” he said.

“Alright” Barriss said, moving around to his other side “We'll take it slowly, Ahsoka you lift on your side, gently. Ready? Okay”

Together, the two Padawans carefully lifted Anakin into a sitting position, with Barriss supporting his head.

“Woah” he gasped as the dizziness returned, making him want to throw up.

“Deep, slow breaths” Barriss instructed, rubbing soothing circles on the back of his head.

“Okay” he gasped, sucking in a breath.

After a few more breaths the nausea began to fade, though the dizziness stayed.

“Thanks” he muttered once he felt he had himself under control. 

Barriss just patted him on the shoulder, still supporting him while he tried to regain his strength.

Footsteps approached them and he carefully raised his head to see Rex coming their way.

“Still with us then General” Rex said, attempting to be casual though Anakin, even in his befuddled, state could sense his worry.

“Yep” he replied, trying to sound more upbeat than he felt “It'll take a lot more than that to finish me off”

“Good” Rex said with an unusual amount of relief mixed with desperation that Anakin found odd until his brain reminded him of current events, the Resolute was gone and all that remained of the 501st was him, Rex and Ahsoka.

He tried to say something to Rex, to let him know he wasn't alone, but his brain couldn't find the words.

Just then Obi-wan, Luminara and Cody came over, all three of them looking grim.

“How bad is it?” Anakin asked when they were close enough.

“As bad as it can get” Obi-wan answered “The fleet is all but destroyed and we're about to follow it if we don't get out of here in the next fifteen minutes”

At Anakin's confused look, Luminara clarified.

“The reactor's been breached and will hit critical mass in the next seventeen minutes”

“What are we waiting for then” Anakin exclaimed, trying but failing to get to his feet.

Rex stepped forward and with Ahsoka's help assisted him to his feet.

“Nothing” Obi-wan said “Let's get going”

With Rex and Ahsoka all but carrying Anakin, the seven of them made their way to the escape pods, on the way Barriss briefly ducked into the briefing room and came out with her bag.

When they reached the pods there was a small crowd of clones waiting for them.

'Waxer, Boil. What are you still doing here?” Cody demanded.

“We're not leaving without you sir!” Waxer retorted.

“Stubborn di'kut” Cody muttered “Get in, we've only got a few minutes left”

There were only three pods left and the eleven remaining troopers divided themselves among them, five got into the left pod, four jumped in the middle one and the remaining two climbed in the right pod.

“I think it's best if we split up a bit” Cody said, once all his men were aboard “Better chance of one of us surviving”

“Agreed” Rex said “We'll take this one” he added heading for the pod on the right with Anakin and Ahsoka.

“I'll go with them” Barriss said, following after them “I want to keep an eye on Anakin”

She climbed inside and then it was just Obi-wan, Luminara and Cody left.

“You two get in this one” Cody said, practically pushing them into the middle pod “And I'll take the last one”

“Alright Cody” Obi-wan said, clasping his shoulder “See you on the ground”

“Will do General” Cody replied, slamming the hatch behind Obi-wan and quickly boarding his own pod. Waxer was at the controls and Boil patted the seat beside him. Cody took it and strapped himself in.

“Launch” he ordered and Waxer slapped the big red button on the console.

  


* * *

  


As soon as Rex had eased him inside the pod Anakin made for the pilots seat, but a wave of dizziness made him see double and he collapsed onto the nearest seat.

“You better fly” he muttered as Ahsoka followed Rex inside.

“Alright” she replied, stepping past him and climbing into the pilots seat.

Behind her came Barriss, who shut and secured the hatch behind her and took the seat beside Anakin strapping herself in before checking his restraints.

Normally, he would have protested such treatment, but he was having such a hard time seeing straight that he found he didn't mind and closed his eyes. He couldn't suppress a shiver when she gently ran a hand over his forehead, the touch easing some of the remaining pain.

"Where's Artoo?" Anakin asked suddenly, realising that the droid wasn't with them.

Across from him Rex took a seat beside the two troopers that were with them.

"I'm sorry sir, shrapnel on the bridge got him" Rex told him, pulling the seat straps around him.

Anakin sagged back into his seat, grief rising again as yet another thing he cared about was taken from him.

“Ready to launch Commander” Rex announced, securing his harness.

“Alright, here we go” Ahsoka said, activating the launch sequence.

  


* * *

  


Luminara had already strapped herself in when Obi-wan joined her and the troopers in the pod. He quickly secured himself as well.

“Ready to go Ged” Obi-wan said.

“Alright sir, hang on” Ged replied, punching the launch button.

The engines fired and with a burst of acceleration the pod shot out of it's tube to join the dozens of others floating in space.

“Contact the other pods and tell them to follow us in” Obi-wan ordered.

“Yes sir” Ged replied.

After a minute or so they'd got responses from all the pods in the vicinity and had formed a convoy heading towards Aradorn IX.

A couple of minutes into the trip there was a burst of static and a cut off scream over the comm.

“Who was that?” Obi-wan asked.

“I don't know sir, let me-” Ged began but was cut off when Ahsoka hailed them.

 _”Master, those fighters are destroying the pods”_ she shouted.

A feeling of cold dread settled in Obi-wan's chest as he quickly assessed their options.

“If we can make it to Aradorn it's atmospheric disturbances should hide us from their sensors” he said after a moment.

 _“Okay”_ Ahsoka replied, not sounding as confidant as he'd like but... he couldn't really blame her.

Ged transmitted the information to the remaining pods and now it was a race against time, every minute they grew closer to Aradorn and safety, but every minute they lost more and more of their remaining men to the droid fighters.

And with every pod lost, every scream that came over the comm's, Obi-wan heart clenched and his guilt grew.

“Coming up on the atmosphere” Ged announced an eternity later.

“How many left?” Obi-wan asked, dreading the answer.

“Only Commander Tano's and Waxer's” Ged replied sadly.

Obi-wan closed his eyes and slowly exhaled, three entire legions gone and it was all his fault.

He felt a hand touch his arm and opened his eyes to see Luminara looking at him, sympathy and understanding in her eyes.

He moved his hand to cover hers but remained silent, both taking comfort in the others presence as they began re-entry.

 _”The droid's aren't following anymore”_ Ahsoka informed them, sounding subdued _”But we lost almost everyone”_

Obi-wan made to respond but they hit the atmosphere just then and comm's dissolved into static as the pod burned with re-entry flames.

The escaped shuddered as they roared through the atmosphere, building to an alarming shaking as they raced towards the ground.

Eventually it died away and Ged levelled out the pod as much as he could while looking for a safe landing site.

While he did that Obi-wan took control of the comm's.

“You guys still with us?” he asked over the emergency frequency.

There wasn't an immediate response and Obi-wan was beginning to worry they were on their own when Ahsoka's voice came through.

 _“Yep, still here”_ Ahsoka announced.

 _“We're still with you General”_ Cody said. 

“Good” Obi-wan sighed.

 _”Where are we going to land?”_ Ahsoka asked _”All I see are trees”_

 _”Aradorn nine is almost entirely forest”_ Barriss informed them.

 _”Great”_ Ahsoka muttered _”It's going to be a rough landing then”_

  


* * *

  


“Aren't all your landings rough?” Barriss asked slyly.

Ahsoka shot her a withering glare then returned her attention to the rapidly approaching forest, eyes scanning for a safe place to land.

But there was nothing, just an endless expanse of trees.

Ahead of them the other two pods were barely skimming over the tops of the trees, until the lead pod disappeared into the branches. 

“Good luck” Ahsoka whispered as the second pod disappeared as well, leaving them alone in the sky.

“There's gotta be somewhere” she muttered, looking frantically for something even remotely like a clearing.

“There!” she exclaimed, finally spotting something that looked like it wouldn't tear them apart.

“Brace yourselves” she yelled, using what little manoeuvrability she had left to aim the pod at the opening.

Everyone held on for dear life, waiting for the impact.

When it came it was as bad as they feared, they hit the ground with a bone jarring crash. Viewports shattered, bulkheads crumpled, panelling fell out and bounced around as the pod skidded along the ground with the sound of screaming metal until, finally, it came to rest in a clump of vines.

“Is everyone alright?” Ahsoka asked, once she'd shaken the ringing from her montrals.

“Fine commander” Rex responded and the two troopers with him nodded. Their armour had protected them from the worst of it.

“I'm alright” Barriss said, holding a piece of her robe to Anakin's head “But Anakin took a panel to the head”

“Ouch, not your day is it General?” Rex said, a hint of a grin in his voice.

Anakin looked too dazed to respond.

The front of the pod was completely obscured with vines so Ahsoka moved to the pod rear, touching Rex on the shoulder as she passed, more to reassure herself that he was alright than anything else. 

“I'll go check out where we've landed, can you gather all of the supplies we've got?” Ahsoka asked Rex.

“Of course” Rex said standing up.

“Thanks” she said, pushing on the hatch to open it, but it was stuck fast.

Sighing, she pulled out her lightsaber and quickly cut through the door, then she pushed it out and carefully stepped over the hot metal.

Outside, vines surrounded her, with only a vague path where the escape pod had crashed through.

Igniting her lightsaber again, she cut a path through the vines to reach open air where she stopped and took a deep breath of the warm, fresh air and looked around.

The forest rose up around them in a dozen shades of vivid green's, brown's and the the bright colours of the flowers.

Everywhere she looked there was thick coverings of vines and other small plants that grew on the trees.

They appeared to have landed on a rise of some kind so she stepped up to the edge and looked down.

A long way down.

They'd landed in a tree somehow she thought, stepping quickly back and examining her surroundings again in new light.

What she'd taken for a hill was actually a huge branch almost 20 meters across and their pod was stuck in a huge mass of vines that were hanging down from the branch above.

“Umm, guys” she said, sticking her head back into the pod “You really need to see this”

Rex appeared in the hatch and she stepped back to let him out, the two troopers, who she thought were Lock and Ness followed him out. Then came Barriss, helping a still dazed Anakin.

“Wow” Rex said as he stepped up to the edge and looked down “Long way down”

“Can you see the bottom?” Ahsoka asked stepping up beside him.

“No, there's too much vegetation” he replied, flicking through various functions on his helmet.

“How far can you see?”

“Umm, about a klick” he replied.

“Wow” Ahsoka said softly.

“Did I hear that right?” Anakin asked “We're still a klick off the ground”

“Yes General” Rex said, walking over to where Barriss had him sitting down.

“Well that's just great” he muttered.

“What do we do now?” Ahsoka asked.

“Can you raise the others on your comlinks?” Anakin asked.

Everyone pulled out their comlinks and started calling those they knew in the other groups.

“It's no good” Barriss said after five minutes of fruitless effort “Something about this world blocks long distance comm signals”

“So what do we do then General?” Rex asked, because despite his injured state, Anakin was still in command.

“We need to regroup with the others” he said after a moment “Scavenge anything that might be useful from the pod, then we'll head towards their last known position”

“Yes sir” was the response from the clones, while Ahsoka just nodded and Barriss didn't do anything.

After half an hour, they'd removed everything that could be even remotely useful to them and piled it up in the middle of the branch. Barriss looked over it with a critical eye, aside from her medical supplies and her bag they had a portable emergency solar generator, six weeks of rations, a basic survival kit with blankets, rechargeable lights, water purification kit and emergency beacon, plus the parts Ahsoka had stripped from the pod.

Should be enough to keep us alive till rescue arrives she thought to herself.

Then, they began dividing it amongst themselves, Rex insisted on taking the generator and made a harness from the vines to strap it to his back, then Lock and Ness hoisted it up for him and he tottered slightly before finding his balance and giving her a thumbs up. Once everyone had their share of the gear they set off in the direction the others had last been seen.  
“I hope they fared as well as we did” Barriss said quietly to Anakin.

“Me too” Anakin replied.

  


* * *

  


They hadn't.

Though Ged did his best to manoeuvre through the trees, eventually there came a branch he couldn't move out of the way of. They slammed into it with bone crushing force, killing Ged and another trooper instantly, the other occupants suffered a number of injuries, from bruises and cuts to broken bones.

Luminara groaned softly as she opened her eyes and took stock of their situation. The pod had partially embedded itself in they branch they'd hit and was being held up they a tangle of vines, which judging by the groaning and shaking, were slowly giving way, about to let them fall who knew how far to the ground.

Across from her, Obi-wan was reaching the same conclusion she had.

“We need to get out of here” she said “Fast”

“I agree” Obi-wan said, unbuckling himself and moving towards the hatch.

To her relief it opened without protest and together they helped the two surviving troopers climb out into the vines.

Luminara took one last look around and grabbed the emergency pack before joining the others in the vines.

It wasn't a moment too soon, just after she'd stepped out there was a loud snapping sound and the vines gave way. The pod plummeted down to the dark depths below, bouncing off branches as it went.

“That was close” Obi-wan said drily, hanging in the vines next to her.

For a moment Luminara was shocked he could find anything funny in this situation, but when she reached out to him in the force all she could feels were his shields raised to full strength which indicated he was feeling worse than he let on.

“We need to find the others” he added after a moment “And figure out a way to get off this planet”

“Yes” Luminara agreed “If we can climb up the these vines and get up on that branch it looks like we should be able to walk between the trees.

With much difficulty, mainly due to the fact that one of the troopers had a broken arm, they managed to get up on the branch above them.

While everyone took a breather, Luminara ripped a strip off her robes and moved over to the trooper with the broken arm.

“How're you feeling?” she asked, kneeling down beside him.

“Fine General” he replied.

She didn't believe him and stared at him with an eyebrow slightly raised until he broke.

“It is a bit painful” he conceded when he couldn't take it any more.

“I can imagine” she said drily “I can't do much for the pain, but I can make a sling so it won't move as much”

“Alright General” he replied.

She set to work and quickly had a sling made and around his neck.

“Thank you General” he said when she was done.

“You're welcome....”

“Tank”

“You're welcome Tank” she said, standing up.

Obi-wan turned from the conversation he was having with the other trooper when she stood up.

“We should get moving” he said “We don't want to be wandering round when it gets dark”

They all agreed and set off in the direction they'd seen the other pods go in.

  


* * *

  


“It's really quite nice here” Ahsoka said several hours later. “I've never seen such a beautiful forest” she added, stopping to sniff one of the vibrant red flowers that grew on the vines the trees were covered in.

“Yes it is” Barriss replied, several meters behind her and supporting Anakin as they made their way towards where they thought the others were.

“And it feels so alive and soothing” she said softly. 

“Yes it does” Anakin replied, equally soft. 

He was feeling a lot better now, his headache was almost gone and his vision was fine. It was just his balance that was off, which was why Barriss had such a tight grip on him.

“Yeah it's-” Ahsoka began but stopped, listening to something only she could hear.

Rex approached her, hands on his blasters, while Lock and Ness took up flanking positions, blasters at the ready.

“What is it?” Rex whispered.

“I thought I heard voices” she whispered back.

Rex opened his mouth to respond but she held up a hand to silence him, listening intently.

Then a huge smile spread across her face and she raced off towards whatever she'd heard.

Rex, Lock and Ness charged after her, leaving Barriss and Anakin alone.

“Shall we?” Anakin asked with a smile.

“I think we'd better” Barriss replied mock seriously “Otherwise they'll probably forget about us”

They hurried after them as fast as Anakin could go, edging around the tree's trunk to find Ahsoka and the clones with Obi-wan, Luminara and their surviving men.

There were hugs all round when Anakin and Barriss reached them, everyone just happy to see each other alive after the horrors of the day.

Then talk turned to the missing pod, while Barriss tended their injuries.

“We didn't see anything on our way here” Obi-wan said, looking at them hopefully.

“Neither did we” Ahsoka said apologetically “But they have to be around here somewhere”

They spread out, leaving the wounded in Barriss's care, searching the surrounding area for signs of the missing pod.

As soon as the others were out of sight Barriss turned to Tank.

“Lets get that arm sorted out” she said, easing him onto the ground and removing the sling.

While Barriss healed Tank's arm, Anakin lay down on the branch, looking up at the sky and watching the thousands of colourful insects and birds race around. He'd never seen anything like it before and if it wasn't for their current situation he though he'd quite enjoy it here.

Padmé would love it here as well he thought and hoped rescue came before she found out what had happened to their fleet. Lost in thought, he continued gazing at the show above him.

As they sun began to get low on the horizon, the searchers returned without success.

“We'll try again in the morning” Obi-wan said wearily “For now we need to find shelter for the night”

“I found something that should work while I was searching” Luminara said “A large hollow in one of the trees that is sheltered and should do nicely”

With a lack of anything better, they all agreed and followed Luminara as she led them back to it.

  


* * *

  


The place Luminara had found was pretty good Anakin had to admit.

A large hollow near the top of one of the trees with an opening that took up about a third of the tree's side.

It was dry as well and easily accessed from a nearby branch, and it looked rather cosy too, he thought to himself.

Once they were inside Rex set up their only camp light in the middle of the hollow and the clones Obi-wan, Luminara and Ahsoka were pooling their supplies, working out what they had and how long it would keep them alive.

While that was happening, Barriss had practically forced Anakin to sit against one of the walls so she could give him another check up.

While she did that, he watched her, noting all the changes since they'd become friends on Anison. She was a lot more serious now, her face grimmer but there was less surety, like the war had shaken her core beliefs and now she wasn't sure what she was anymore. He could understand that, he felt the same way.

Then her eyes locked with his and they stared at each other for a long moment, something unknown passing between them.

The he blinked and it was gone.

He gave her a smile and looked away.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing” he replied, still smiling “What's the prognosis”

She was taken aback by his sudden change of subject but answered his question.

“You're out of danger now, but I'll keep an eye on you for the next day or so just to be sure” she said, getting to her feet and holding out her hand.

“Well that good” he replied, taking her hand and getting to his feet as well.

“Yes, you're lucky you've got such a thick skull” she said with a straight face.

He snorted and grinned, back when they'd both been Padawans almost everything she'd said to him had been teasing in some manner. But when he'd been knighted that disappeared, replaced with polite, respectful conversation. Now it was back again and he hadn't realized how much he'd missed it.

“Or perhaps it's just your exceptional healing skills” he replied.

She clearly wasn't expecting that as his response and blushed furiously, staring at her feet.

“Thanks” she mumbled.

“You're welcome” he said, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder.

“It's not his fault!” Ahsoka said loudly, defensively.

They both turned to see Ahsoka glaring at Obi-wan and Luminara while the clones watched with bemused expressions and Rex was openly grinning.

“What's not my fault?” Anakin asked, stepping up behind Ahsoka and placing a hand on her shoulder to get her to calm down a bit.

It had an instant effect and she relaxed her defiant stance.

“Ahsoka doesn't have have a spare charge pack for her lightsaber” Obi-wan said neutrally “I merely asked why”

“Ahh” Anakin said, imagining what had been left out of his master's explanation, probably something about him slacking as a master that Ahsoka had taken personally when she should know better. It was Obi-wan, after all.

He shot her a questioning glance and she wilted slightly.

“Sorry Master” she whispered.

“That's alright” he replied, taking one from his belt and giving it to her “I always keep half a dozen or so handy, just in case”

To say Ahsoka was grateful would be a massive understatement, she all but exploded with relief and gratitude, placing the power cell carefully in her belt and shooting Obi-wan a look that Anakin wouldn't quite call smug but was pretty close to it.

“Well, now that that's sorted, do you have anything to add Barriss?” Luminara said drily.

“Just my medical supplies and a datapad I downloaded everything on Aradorn IX onto”

“How'd you manage that? None of us could get a connection” Luminara said.

“Oh, I did it before we got ambushed. For a bit of light reading, though not much is actually known about this world”

“Still, I think that will come in handy” Obi-wan said “Now perhaps we should discuss what to do next”

“Well, we should plan to be here at least two weeks because we weren't due to check in for ten days and they won't miss us for at least four after that” Anakin said.

“We've got enough rations to last us four weeks” Rex put in “So we should be fine in that department and if it does turn out to be longer there's plenty of fruits and wildlife to sustain us”

“Hopefully it doesn't come to that” Obi-wan said.

The discussion continued for another hour then they decided to get some sleep.

Obi-wan said he'd take the first watch and sat down by the hollow's entrance, staring out into the night.

Rex and his men formed a group against one wall, quickly dropping off to sleep.

Luminara settled herself into a meditative pose and relaxed into the force, while Anakin picked a spot that looked the most comfortable and lay down, Ahsoka curled up beside him both asleep in moments, leaving only Barriss and Obi-wan awake.

Barriss looked around the room with a sigh and ran her hands over her face, letting a few tears slip out as she recalled what had become the worst day of her life so far. All her men, Commander Gree and thousands of others dead for no reason.

Wiping her eyes, she looked around the room again and stopped her gaze on Anakin, one of the only bright spots of the day.

He really looked cute when he was asleep she thought to herself with a small smile, then scolded herself. You're a Jedi, you're not suppose to think like that.

But she did, ever since Anison, she couldn't help it. Anakin, whom she'd taken for an arrogant, selfish stuck up Padawan, had proven to be completely different during their mission to Anison and she'd been in love with him ever since.

Still berating herself, she picked a spot a couple of meters away from Anakin and lay down. After one last look at him, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	2. A monster in the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just what the title says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the delay with this chapter, it took longer than I expected to finish.

_There is no emotion, there is peace.  
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.  
There is no passion, there is serenity.  
There is no chaos, there is harmony.  
There is no death, there is the force._

Luminara took a deep, slow breath and began again.

_There is no emotion, there is peace.  
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.  
There is no passion, there is serenity.  
There is no chaos, there is harmony.  
There is no death, there is the force._

And again.

With each repetition she felt herself relax further, the familiar words soothing as she released all her pent up emotions from the day, each recital eased some of the tension, some of the guilt at surviving when so many others had not.

_There is no emotion, there is peace._

After a while though, the words began to feel hollow, like they lacked any real meaning so she stopped and opened her eyes, frowning.

The code had always been comforting to her, a solid foundation that supported her through all the horrors she'd lived through, kept her going when all she wanted to do was give up and flee somewhere far away where there was no war or Republic or anything to worry about.

So why now did it feel so empty?

She couldn't answer that and thinking about it, did she really want to?

Something to decide in the morning she thought with a yawn, glancing around the hollow.

The others were all asleep, the soft sounds of their breathing filling the space.

Then she turned her gaze to where Barriss, Anakin and Ahsoka were and smiled.

Ahsoka had rolled around in her sleep and was now using Anakin's back as a pillow while he snored on obliviously and Barriss, unconsciously or otherwise, had moved so that she was right up beside Anakin, their hands almost touching.

She let out a small snort, Barriss thought she was fooling her but she'd practically raised the girl and had known immediately something had changed after their mission to Anison, the way she'd acted around Anakin during the trip back had hinted at new found feelings and the aftermath of their campaign on Geonosis had removed all doubt.

Barriss was in love with Anakin.

But, though she knew she should, she hadn't had the heart to lecture her on attachment, they were at war and needed any comfort they could find and so long as it didn't interfere with her duties, she was content to leave her to it.

Besides, she'd be the worst kind of hypocrite if she told Barriss off after the things she'd gotten up to with a fellow Padawan she thought with a grin, turning her gaze to said fellow Padawan.

Obi-wan was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the entrance, staring out into the night, apparently lost in thought, though he looked up as she approached.

He didn't say anything as she sat down beside him and she remained silent as well, both just staring out into the night, enjoying each others presence.

Eventually he spoke.

“It's so peaceful here” he said softly “One could almost forget there's a war going on”

She didn't say anything at first, watching him as the moonlight flicker across his face before responding.

“Yes, one could” she said thoughtfully “You know, this place reminds me of Thraxia, though it's not as dull” she added with a grin.

Obi-wan snorted.

“Nowhere is that dull, that mission was so boring your master nearly drove Qui-gon mad just for something to do”

Luminara snorted as well, their mission had been to mediate a dispute between two farming unions with a violent distrust of each other, but in between the negotiations which were tedious by themselves there was literally nothing else to do on the world. Which had led to numerous though admittedly amusing incidents from both their masters as they tried to kill the time between meetings on the three month mission.

“From what I remember, it was Qui-gon who nearly drove my master nuts” she replied, still smiling.

“Hmm, well that world is so dull anyone would go nuts” Obi-wan said.

“We found a way to cope” she said with a smirk, recalling exactly what they'd got up to during those long three months.

“Yes” he said with a chuckle “We certainly did”

“Do you ever think of those days?” she asked quietly.

He sighed.

“More and more as this war drags on” he said, turning to her “Those were the times when things made sense, when saying goodbye to a friend didn't mean you might never see them again” he sighed again “And whatever we do, I don't think we can ever return to them, even if we win. Too much has changed, I don't think the galaxy will ever know lasting peace again”

“You may be right, but if we don't do anything there won't even be hope for peace” she said.

“True” he said with a smile “But first we need to get off this world, then we can worry about saving the galaxy”

“Alright” she said smiling as well, then her expression turned serious “What do you think our chances of rescue are?”

He didn't answer immediately, instead turning back to the opening and frowning thoughtfully at the night before turning back to her.

“Honestly, not good” he said “By the time they realise we're missing and send a fleet to investigate it'll be at least three weeks from now, then they have to find us, assuming they don't just look at the destroyed fleet and think we've been killed as well. And even if they do look for us, with the way this planet affects sensors and comm signals they'd have to fly right over us so we could get their attention somehow”

He paused to take a breath and sighed as she considered his gloomy assessment, her heart sinking.

“I don't think we're going to get off this world” he finished glumly.

“Don't give up yet” she told him.

“I'm not giving up, I'm just-” he froze suddenly listening hard.

She listened too and after a moment realised what she could hear.

Nothing.

Where before there had been the sounds of the nightlife, now there was nothing, not even the sound of the wind through the trees.

“Do you feel it?” Obi-wan whispered.

She closed her eyes reached out with the force, searching for whatever it was that Obi-wan could sense.

She found it almost immediately, a cold sense of malice that was drawing steadily closer.

“What do you think it is?” she asked softly.

“I don't know” he whispered back “It feels like some kind of animal”

“Should we wake the others?”

“Hmm, not yet. It may be nothing” he replied.

They waited, listening intently for any sound of an approaching creature, lightsabers gripped tightly.

The tension built as the minutes passed without a sound when suddenly the leaves above them rustled, making them both flinch as the branches above them were disturbed and the branch hanging over the entrance swayed.

A branch she couldn't remember being there earlier.

Frowning, she nudged Obi-wan.

“Was that there before?” she whispered, pointing to it.

“No” he said, moving closer to get a better look.

When he was almost under it, it dropped down and watched in frozen horror as it rather casually wrapped itself around him and pulled him out into the night with a strangled gasp.

It took a moment for her voice to catch up with her brain, then she screamed.

“Obi-wan!”

  


* * *

  


Ahsoka sat down at the commissary with barely concealed anticipation, after months on campaign they'd finally returned to the temple for a week of R&R.

And decent food, Ahsoka thought happily as a large Nerf steak was placed in front of her. It looked and smelt delicious and she couldn't wait to taste it.

Unfortunately, the steak didn't agree as it sprouted legs and ran off as fast as it could.

“Get back here!” she growled, leaping up and giving chase.

She chased it out of the commissary and down the main hall, drawing curious looks as she ran past the other Jedi and though it had a decent head start, it had short legs and she quickly gained on it. Once it was in reach she made a flying leap and tackled it to the ground.

“Gotcha” she growled triumphantly, but the steak turned into Anakin who frowned disapprovingly at her.

“That's not how you catch a steak” he told her “Try again” he added, changing back into the steak and running off down the hall again.

Ahsoka stood slowly, watching the steak run with a growing sense of unease. Steaks couldn't run, nor could they change into her master. 

I must be dreaming, she realised as the unease grew stronger.

“Very good” Anakin said, appearing beside her “Now wake up, you're in danger”

“I'm in what” she asked as the temple began to dissolve around her.

“Daaaannnnggggeeerrrr” Anakin said as he faded as well. 

She blinked and suddenly everything was gone, her eyes closed then sprung open again and she was back in the hollow and found herself with her head on Anakin's back, looking towards the entrance where Obi-wan and Luminara were standing, watching the outside intently.

She couldn't see what they were looking at but she could feel a sense of malice growing stronger and stronger. When it felt like it was right on top of them she felt Anakin stir beneath her. 

She sent a warning to him and he froze.

“What is it?” he whispered.

“I'm not sure” she whispered back, listening hard, Obi-wan and Luminara were talking quietly and looking up “Can you wake Barriss?”

“Yeah” he said, turning his head to find Barriss a lot closer than he was expecting, barely a hand span away. He carefully raise an arm and gave her a poke.

“Whaa?” she asked, groggy from sleep but not enough to stop herself from blushing as she realised how close she was to Anakin.

“Shhh” he whispered “Something's coming”

That woke her up and she shifted around, turning towards the entrance as a branch fell down and grabbed Obi-wan, pulling him out into the night.

“Obi-wan!” Luminara screamed as Barriss gasped and Ahsoka let out a shout of surprise. Anakin, who couldn't see anything, leapt to his feet, throwing Ahsoka off him and drawing his lightsaber.

At Luminara's scream all the clones also woke, leaping to their feet with weapons trained on the entrance as an enraged bellow came from outside and Luminara dove backwards as half a dozen tentacles filled the hollow.

The clones opened fire and several volleys slammed into the creature, drawing more bellows from it before the tentacles reached them.

Rex and another clone were slammed into the wall with sickening cracks, while others were dragged out into the creature's waiting maw. 

Lightsabers ignited as the Jedi fell upon the tentacles and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air as the tentacles dropped to the ground.

However that wasn't the end of the danger as the tentacles that were cut off began thrashing round sweeping Barriss's feet from under her with a startled yelp and making it very difficult to fight off the remaining limbs as they scattered their supplies.

More roars came from the creature as it lowered itself down to the level of the entrance, revealing a huge gaping mouth and filling the hollow with the stench of death and decay.

“Look out!” Anakin yelled as a bunch of smaller tentacles emerged from the maw, reaching for Ahsoka and Barriss.

There was a sudden green blur and they were gone, as Luminara stepped over the wriggling mess they made and turned towards the creature.

The creature shrieked and let out a strange coughing sound, moments later it let out a giant sneeze and Anakin found himself covered in a dark, sticky substance.

“Gross!” Ahsoka said, wiping a large amount off her face, Luminara was doing the same thing, then she glanced at him then turned towards the creature again. He saw her intention and chased after her as she charged forwards, launching herself into a leap that brought the tentacles on the left that were holding it up in reach. She slashed through them as he did the same on the right side before landing on the squishy side of the creature.

They both buried their lightsabers in the creature, which roared in pain before leaping back and together, using the force to throw it off the tree.

It fell, with squeals and snapping branches, down, until the sounds faded and it was quiet once more.

They all stood there, breathing heavily as the adrenaline slowly drained from them.

Then Rex sat up with a pained grunt and crawled to the side of his remaining trooper, but there was nothing he could do.

He got up and slumped against the wall, a sense of deep sadness radiating off him.

After hesitating for a moment, Ahsoka went over to him and gently wrapped her arms around him, Rex seemed to sag slightly as he returned the hug while Ahsoka whispered something to him.

Meanwhile Barriss picked herself up out of the mess and joined Anakin and Luminara at the entrance, looking for any sigh of Obi-wan.

“Obi-wan!” Luminara shouted, looking desperately around.

“Careful” Anakin warned “We don't want to attract another one”

She shot him a look that almost made him recoil but she didn't shout again.

After a few minutes of quiet there was rustling in the vines below them and they drew their lightsabers, ready to defend themselves.

They waited, holding their breaths, but it wasn't another creature that emerged, it was Obi-wan, looking rather worse for wear with his robes torn in several places but otherwise in one piece.

“Obi-wan” Luminara gasped, reaching down and pulling him inside before wrapping him in a hug.

Anakin and Barriss looked away to give them a bit of privacy and found Rex and Ahsoka still hugging.

They glanced at each other and he rolled his eyes before returning them to Obi-wan and Luminara who had pulled apart now, not noticing Barriss crestfallen expression.

“What was that?” he asked.

“I don't know” Obi-wan replied, looking not the least bit shaken by his experience.

“I think it was some kind of Octopus” Barriss said “It was very similar to ones I've seen on Mon Calamari. But I've never heard of one being so big or living in trees before”

“I suspect we'll see a lot of things that have never been seen before we leave” Obi-wan replied, glancing around the hollow.

When he saw that Rex and Ahsoka were the only others still alive, his face fell as he realised the last of his men had died.

“I'm sorry” Luminara whispered and he nodded but didn't say anything as Ahsoka and Rex came over to join them, Ahsoka wiping her eyes.

Nobody said anything, they just stood there, each lost in their own thoughts until, by unspoken agreement, they all moved to the back of the hollow and sat huddled together, leaning against the wall to await dawn, none of them wanting to go back to sleep.

  


* * *

  


Dawn couldn't come soon enough, and when the sky finally began to lighten they all breathed sighs of relief.

The light also brought the chance to properly see what was left of the creature and the damage it had caused.

They were all to some degree, excluding Obi-wan, covered in the black, tar like substance that the creature had sprayed over the hollow, a substance that had begun to harden and was already itchy. Ahsoka had it worst, almost her entire head and front was covered in the stuff, with only little patches of blue and white showing through.

That and the lack of sleep made her more irritable than normal as they checked each other over for injuries, which to everyone's surprise only comprised of some rather nasty looking bruises on Obi-wan and Rex.

And breakfast did nothing to improve matters as all they had were the emergency rations from the escape pods, rations that were perfectly fine for humans or Mirialans but didn't quite agree with Togrutan digestive systems.

Still, he couldn't help but feel proud of her as she determinedly ate all of her bar, sending her all the encouragement he could as he finished off his own bar and turned to join the others looking through what was left of their supplies.

A lot of them had been destroyed or damaged by the creature's flailing limbs and the rest was scattered throughout the hollow, so they set to work, picking out what they could from among the mess of severed tentacles.

“Generator's damaged” Anakin said, picking it up and looking it over “But it should still function, it just won't give us full power”

“Well that's something” Obi-wan said, holding up pieces of the emergency beacon “I don't think anything is going to save this”

Anakin glanced at it with a critical eye “You're right” he agreed “If we had the parts it'd be no problem, but here not a chance”

Obi-wan sighed and tossed the pieces aside.

“Things are a bit better with the rations and medical supplies” Luminara said, looking up from where she and Barriss were going through a pile of them “Over half the rations survived and Barriss still has all of her medical kit”

“Better than what we've got” Rex informed them from where he and Ahsoka were sorting out weapons and charge packs “We've only got one functional DC-15 with three charge packs and I've only got two charges each for my sidearms”

“But we've still got our lightsabers, which should easily last until we're rescued” Ahsoka added.

Obi-wan and Luminara exchanged a look but didn't say anything.

“Speaking of rescue” Rex continued “If we're going to survive till it comes I suggest we relocate. We don't want another encounter with one of those creatures”

“You'll get no argument from me” Anakin said glancing round at the mess and tentacles, the latter of which were beginning to smell. 

“We also need to find water” Barriss said “Not only to have a source of water, we need something to clean this disgusting stuff off”

They all agreed and spent the next half an hour quickly packing up everything they could that was salvageable. 

Anakin had just finished loading his pack and was just about to put it on when Barriss approached him.

“How're you feeling?” she asked.

“Good as new” he said with a smile “Thank you”

“You're welcome” she said, blushing faintly.

Then she hesitated for a moment, as if she was going to say more. But then she turned and returned to her pack, hoisting it up and securing it tightly, before joining Obi-wan and Luminara at the entrance.

Anakin followed her over and Rex and Ahsoka joined them as well.

“Everyone ready?” Obi-wan asked “We don't want to be wandering round in the dark tonight”

“I think so” Ahsoka answered, glancing round the hollow one last time “Wait, Rex” she said softly “What do you want to do with Tank's body”

There was a brief flash of pain from Rex but he quickly clamped it down.

'There's nothing we can do for him” he said eventually “His fights over, we need to focus on our own survival now”

All the Jedi stared at him but didn't push the matter.

“Let's get going then” Luminara said quietly.

  


* * *

  


They kept together this time as they wandered through the upper branches of the trees, eyes constantly scanning their surroundings though they could feel no ill intent, remaining silent apart from the occasional grunt of exertion.

And as the day grew later, they became uncomfortably aware that this was a tropical part of the world.

“Man, it's hot” Ahsoka complained several hours later, as midday approached.

“Is it?” Rex asked, stopping beside her, not feeling hot at all inside his climate controlled armour. 

She glared at him.

“Maybe not for you” she retorted “But for the rest of us it is”

“And this stuff itches” she added, scratching furiously at her lekku.

“Yeah, it's very unpleasant” Anakin said, scratching at his hair, which was plastered with the stuff.

The others watched them with amusement, they hadn't got it nearly as bad as Anakin and Ahsoka had and they'd got it mostly on their clothes or armour where they did have it.

“It's not funny!” Ahsoka growled, catching sight of Obi-wan smirking at them “It's-”

Then she froze suddenly, sniffing the air.

Everyone else froze as well.

“What is it?” Anakin asked softly.

“I think I can smell water” she said, moving forward again.

They followed after her across several more trees before she took off and leapt up onto a higher branch.

“Found it!” she shouted excitedly.

Obi-wan, Luminara and Barriss jumped up to join her and Anakin turned to Rex, a grin forming on his face.

“No!” Rex said firmly.

“Yes” Anakin replied, ignoring Rex's continued complaints as he lifted him with the force and raised him up to the branch. Ahsoka grabbed him when he was close enough, making sure he kept his footing when Anakin set him down. Then Anakin leapt up beside them, still smirking.

Then they all turned to look at what Ahsoka had found.

It was one of the wider branches, one that had become hollow on top and filled with water, stretching down almost half it's length, looking cool and inviting. 

“Wait” Barriss called as they began dumping their packs in a pile “I want to test it first, just in case”

There were a few grumbles, mainly from Ahsoka, but they all agreed that it was probably the best thing to do so they sat down to wait while Barriss pulled out her testing kit and took a sample from the pool.

After several minutes, the results came through and she read through them several times before she turned to them.

“Seems fine” she said “Good enough to drink”

Needing no more encouragement, the others grabbed their canteens and rushed to the waters edge, filling them and splashing the cool water on their faces with sighs of relief.

When everyone had drunk their fill, Ahsoka shot Anakin a questioning look and he nodded.

Grinning, she took a few steps back then, after a moments hesitation ran towards the water and dove in.

Anakin held his breath as she disappeared under the water, images of giant water creatures suddenly appearing in his mind, not relaxing until she burst out of the water a few moments later with a joyful squeal.

“Come on, it feels great” she called, floating on her back.

With some reluctance, Rex began removing his armour, placing each piece neatly in a stack until he was in just his blacks. Then he stepped gingerly into the water, letting out a small gasp when he felt how cold it was.

Anakin felt no need to remove any clothing, it was just as dirty as he was and dove straight in, feeling a brief shock as the cold hit him before surfacing next to Ahsoka. 

Luminara and Barriss quickly followed, diving in fully clothed as well, leaving Obi-wan alone on the edge.

“Come on Obi-wan” Anakin called.

“That's alright” Obi-wan replied “I'll keep watch for the moment”

“Fine” Anakin shrugged, laying back and floating beside Ahsoka, allowing the water to sooth the aches his body had acquired over the last couple of days.

Once everyone was done cooling off, they turned their attention to getting themselves clean and Barriss was glad she wore a cowl as she watched Anakin struggling to clean the stuff out of his hair, feeling an urge to go over and help him. An urge she quickly suppressed and turned her focus to her own clothes, removing her cowl and outer robes and beginning to work on getting the whatever it was out of them.

After about an hour of scrubbing she was reasonably happy with the results and glanced up to see how the others were doing, letting out a soft curse when her eyes found Anakin.

It really wasn't fair she thought, as her eyes traced over his bare chest while he scrubbed at his shirt, watching his muscles flex with every movement.

“Stop it” she told herself, closing her eyes and counting slowly backwards from one hundred. In Toydarian.

When she opened them again she couldn't help but look back at Anakin again and found Ahsoka sitting beside him, head lowered while he cleaned the tops and back of her montrals.

I wonder what that would feel like, she thought, imaging herself in Ahsoka's place.

“No, you're a Jedi!” she whispered furiously, tearing her gaze off the pair and instead turning to where her master and Obi-wan were having a quiet discussion, near Captain Rex who was cleaning his armour, until she felt she had her feelings under control again and returned to the water and her clothes.

“Probably as good as they're going to get” she muttered, eyeing her robes, which still had patches of the stuff on them but were a lot better than they used to be.

She gathered them up and squeezed out as much water as she could before moving to where the others had laid out their clothes and arranged hers beside them.

When she was finished, she noticed the others had gathered together and hurried to join them.

All of them were in their undergarments and she couldn't help a snort of amusement at how ridiculous this would look to anyone watching them.

Anakin caught her eye and grinned, undoing all her hard work as she smiled back and felt her face flush.

His look turned questioning, but before he could ask, Rex spoke, obviously continuing a conversation she'd missed.

“Well, we need to find something more easily defended, otherwise we won't last a week here” he said “Something with a much smaller entrance and at least one alternate way out”

“If it comes to it, we can always carve something into one of the trees” Anakin said.

“That would be a last resort I think” Obi-wan said “It would take days to make something big enough anyway”

“And we can't forget about water” Barriss added “Unless these pools are common we should stay as near to here as we can”

“Yes, a good point” Luminara said, before looking up at the sky “By my reckoning we have about four hours of daylight left, so if we're done here we should get dressed and get moving. We don't want to still be looking when the sun goes down”

None of them could argue with that and soon after they were all dressed and on their way again.

  


* * *

  


Luck, or the force was with them as they discovered a half dead tree just a few branches over from the pool, one that had rotted to be almost hollow in several places that provided them with several options for a place to spend the night and many escape routes should they require them.

“This should do nicely” Anakin commented, as they examined one of the smaller sections that were further inside the tree with more limited access “And all this rotted wood should make things more comfortable too”

“And those things will have a harder time getting at us as well” Rex said, standing by the entrance which was only a little larger than an airlock door.

“There are a few holes” Obi-wan said, looking up to where sunlight was streaming through in several places “But we'll be fine as long as it doesn't rain”

“With our luck lately, it probably will” Ahsoka muttered.

“Think positive Ahsoka” Barriss said with a yawn, setting off a chain reaction among the others.

“I think we should all get an early night” Luminara said, stifling another yawn “Then tomorrow we can begin planning what we need to do till rescue arrives”

“Agreed” Anakin said “I'll take first watch”

“I'll take second then” Luminara said.

“Third” Ahsoka added.

With that agreed to, they sat down to another meal of ration cubes and as the sun sank below the horizon Anakin settled into his post by the door, watching the others as they fell asleep, all but Ahsoka who tossed and turned for a while, evidently suffering from the stomach cramps emergency rations tended to give her before she finally settled into an uneasy sleep.

The night was peaceful and he struggled not to fall to the gentle call of sleep. Searching for something to occupy his mind, his thoughts turned to his wife, wondering what she was up to at the moment and hoping rescue arrived before they were announced missing.

And so he passed the hours, imaging the future with Padmé and everything he wanted to do with her once the war was over, until it was time to wake Luminara.

He roused her with a gentle nudge and gave her a quick report on everything he'd noticed during his watch before laying down beside Ahsoka and going straight to sleep.

Luminara took the spot Anakin had vacated and settled in for another five uneventful hours before waking Ahsoka to take her watch.

Three hours after that, the sun began to rise.

“Sun's coming up” she announced.

The other's stirred and one by one got up to join her.

Once they were all up, Obi-wan handed out ration packs for breakfast, most took them without complaint but Ahsoka didn't conceal her disgust for them.

“What I wouldn't give for a Nerf steak” she muttered, ripping into the rations and swallowing mouthful with a grimace.

Beside her, Anakin grimaced in sympathy and patted her on the shoulder.

“We'll find something for you today, I promise” he said quietly.

She looked at him hopefully and swallowed the last of her bar with a shudder.

“What's the plan for today then?” she asked.

“Well” Luminara answered, taking a bite from her ration bar “Firstly, I think we should try and make things a bit more comfortable for ourselves since we're going to be here for at least another two weeks” She paused to take another bite “We should also begin investigating the local flora and fauna to see what's edible because I don't think any of us want to spend the rest of our time here eating emergency rations”

“I second that” Ahsoka said, getting a chuckle from everyone.

“Alright then” Obi-wan said “After we've eaten we'll go see what we can find”

  


* * *

  


Once they were finished, they assembled outside their new found shelter, taking only essential supplies and equipment and debated how best to proceed.

“I think it's safe enough during the day for us to split up” Obi-wan said “And that way we can get things done twice as fast”

Anakin and Luminara agreed with him, while Barriss, Ahsoka and Rex argued that it would be safer to stick together for the time being. But when it came down to it, three Generals outranked two Commanders and a Captain so it was decided that they would split into groups of three.

Luminara chose Rex and Obi-wan for her group which was to look for bedding and anything else that might be useful, leaving Barriss and Ahsoka with Anakin to hunt for food because as she put it Barriss had the testing kit and knew how to use it and Ahsoka was the best equipped biologically to find food.

When they were all ready, they agreed to meet back at their new base in five hours.

“Have fun” Obi-wan said drily as they parted ways.

“You too” Anakin shot back with a smirk and a glance at Luminara, taking off down the branch before Obi-wan could respond.

Barriss and Ahsoka followed after him, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.

After about half an hour they stopped at a promising looking tree covered in vines and other plants, many of which grew fruits and other edible looking things.

“If you can gather a selection of everything, I'll set up my equipment” Barriss said, placing her bag on the ground and beginning to pull things out.

“Alright” Ahsoka said, and she and Anakin began picking one of everything they could reach, building up a pile beside Barriss as she prepared her tests.

When she was ready she called them over, then selected the first fruit, a long, bright yellow, bean shaped thing and stuck a probe into it.

After a minute, the results came through.

“Poisonous” she said, glancing over the results and placing the fruit in a clear, transpairi bag before sealing it and placing it in her pack.

“Why are you keeping it?” Anakin asked.

“So I can show the others what's poisonous” she replied, moving on to the next fruit, a toxic looking green ball.

“Edible” she said a minute later, sounding as surprised as they felt.

“Still don't think I'll eat it” Anakin said.

Ahsoka snorted.

After a few more tests Barriss noticed Ahsoka beginning to fidget and Anakin doing his best to ignore it, she saw with a smirk.

After another ten minutes, which Ahsoka spent either staring at something she could sense further down the branch or looking hopefully at Anakin, he sighed and looked at her.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There's a... something at the end of this branch” she said.

“And?”

“Can I go have a quick look?” she asked, eyes imploring him to say yes.

“Fine” he sighed after a moments thought “But don't go too far”

“Thanks Master” she said, shooting to her feet and disappearing down the branch.

“Padawans” he muttered, looking at Barriss and heaving a long suffering sigh.

Barriss snorted, then remembered she was still a Padawan too and switched to glaring at him.

He smirked back and suddenly she became aware of how close he was sitting and the fact that they were now alone on the branch.

She swallowed with difficulty and felt her face heat up as she returned to her tests, though Anakin seemed to notice nothing.

It became increasingly difficult for her to concentrate as every movement, every subtle shift in position drew her gaze.

Focus, she told herself crossly, picking up the next piece of fruit and glaring at it as she ran the test, determinedly not looking at him.

“Something wrong?” he asked, and the concern in his voice made her eyes snap to his deep, blue ones.

“No” she said softly, feeling a sudden urge to confess her feelings to him “Everything's fine”

“Why the look then?”

“I-” she began, but hesitated. Did she tell him how she felt? How would he take it? Did he feel the same way? It's against the Jedi code, don't you care? Umm... 

Before she could make a decision, the sound of running feet announced Ahsoka's return, carrying a large, dark green, crab-like and obviously dead, creature and looking immensely pleased with herself.

“Look what I found” she exclaimed excitedly, putting it down between them.

Barriss flinched as the almost meter across crab hit the ground, feeling the previous moment disappear as she peered more closely at it.

“What is it?” she asked, more to herself than in any hope of getting an answer.

“I don't know” Ahsoka replied “But it smells really good” she added, leaning in and taking a deep breath “Even better than Nerf” she sighed.

“Well, lets see if it's edible then” Barriss said, using one of her tools to take a sample while Ahsoka grinned at Anakin.

It took a few minutes for the results to come back, but when they did, she smiled.

“You're in luck” she told Ahsoka “It's perfectly fine to eat and very nutritious”

Ahsoka let out an excited squeal, making Anakin roll his eyes.

“Really Snips? It's like you haven't eaten meat for months”

“I haven't” she replied, looking at the crab like it was the greatest thing she'd ever seen “We've only had rations or that fake meat”

He just shook his head and turned back to Barriss, who was testing another fruit.

She looked up when she felt his gaze and looked down again.

“Perhaps you two could gather more of what's edible to take back” she suggested, not looking up.

“Good idea” Anakin said, noticing her cheeks flush as he did.

Odd, he thought as he walked away, she never usually got this flustered. Must be just the stress of the last few days he decided after a moment, helping Ahsoka strip the surrounding plants of edible fruit, perhaps he should get Ahsoka to talk to her, if her reaction earlier was any example she might find it easier to talk to her than him or her master.

Putting those thoughts aside for now though, they spent the next couple of hours collecting fruit until their packs were full to the brim.

“I think that's enough for one day” he said as they returned to where Barriss was sitting.

“Yeah, we should probably head back now” Barriss agreed, returning her kit to her bag.

“Great, lets get going” Ahsoka said, heaving the crab into her arms and handing it to Anakin before walking back towards their temporary home. 

Barriss saw him open his mouth to call her back, but then he closed it and sighed, giving her a long suffering look, before following after his apprentice. 

Barriss couldn't help the smile that formed on her face as she trailed after them.

  


* * *

  


Once Anakin, Ahsoka and Barriss were out of sight, Luminara turned to her companions.

“Shall we get going then?” she asked Obi-wan, who was still muttering under his breath.

“Yes, let's go” he agreed.

So they set off, taking a different path to the others, examining the plants and other strange things they passed for possible uses, remaining silent apart from the occasional comment on their latest discovery.

After several hours without discovering anything particularly useful, Obi-wan called a halt to look over what they had so far and decide what to do next.

“Well, it's a start” he said drily as he finished laying out the contents of his pack.

It wasn't much really, just a selection of various softish plants and spongy leaves they'd found along the way.

“I suppose it's better than nothing” Luminara said with a grimace, examining her own take.

“Yeah” Rex agreed “And tomorrow we can find more once we decide what's best”

“Agreed” Luminara said “For now though, I think we should return to base”

“Probably a good idea” Obi-wan said “It's getting late and I'm interested to see what the others have found”

They quickly gathered up all their supplies and Obi-wan gestured for Rex to lead the way.

Luminara and Obi-wan hung a little behind Rex, talking quietly.

“Should we tell the others what we think our chances of rescue are?” she asked.

“Hmm, not yet” he replied “After all we may still get rescued, we don't need to let their hopes down yet”

“But shouldn't we at least prepare them for the highly likely probability that we won't be?”

Obi-wan sighed.

“I think deep down Anakin and Rex know we're not getting off this world, and the girls will figure it out soon enough” he said, looking at her sadly.

She slipped a hand into his and gave it a squeeze.

“It's not so bad” she said softly “There are worse worlds to be stuck on”

“True” he said “And there's no one I'd rather be stuck with” he added with a cheeky grin, pressing a kiss to their joined hands.

“I'm touched” she said drily, though she was smiling too.

He let out a small chuckle, then his expression sobered.

“In all seriousness though” he said, stopping and turning to her “I'm glad you're here”

“So am I” she said quietly, using her free hand to trace the side of his face, staring into his eyes.

“Ah, Generals” Rex said almost apologetically, breaking the moment “We should keep moving”

“Right you are Captain” Obi-wan said with a smirk “Come on Master Unduli, we mustn't keep the others waiting”

Luminara was sure she didn't imagine the Captain give a resigned sigh and definitely felt a sense of “Why me” coming from him.

She snorted, then immediately saddened as the Captain reminded her of the time Gree had caught her and Obi-wan... strategising late one night on Geonosis.

“What's wrong?” Obi-wan asked, sensing her good mood disappear.

“Nothing” she said quietly “Just a memory”

  


* * *

  


When they returned to the tree they found the others had already returned and had had a far more productive day.

Once they taken off their packs and settled down on the relative comfort of the ground, Barriss and Ahsoka wasted no time showing them everything they'd found that could be eaten while Anakin looked through what they'd brought back.

“And what are we going to do with that?” Rex asked when Ahsoka showed them her crab.

“Eat it of course” she replied.

“Would you like some help preparing it?” he asked, as Luminara went off with Barriss and Obi-wan went over to join Anakin.

“Sure” she replied, placing it on the ground and sitting beside it.

He knelt down on it's other side and ejected his gauntlet vibro blade, considering where to begin.

After a moment he decided to take the shell off first and use it as a bowl to hold the rest of the meat.

Once the shell was off, he began cutting up the meat inside into smaller more manageable sized pieces, watched by an eager Ahsoka and trying not to roll his eyes when she grabbed several pieces and practically inhaled them.

“When did you learn how to do this?” she asked through a mouthful.

“I didn't” he replied “I just have other training I can... repurpose”

“Oh”

“Right” he said, chopping up the last few pieces “Now we just need some way of cooking it”

“Way ahead of you Rex” Anakin said from where he was attaching what looked like a portable cooker to the generator.

“Where'd you get that from?” Ahsoka asked.

“It was in the emergency pack” he replied, switching it on.

Almost immediately, a steady heat began to rise off it.

“Barbecue time” he said, rubbing his hands together.

Together, Rex and Ahsoka carried over the shell laden with meat and set it down beside the cooker. Then Anakin used the force to lift out half a dozen pieces and placed them on the cooker top.

Soon after the smell of cooking meat filled the tree, drawing the others over from where they'd been preparing the fruit and eliciting growls of anticipation from their stomachs.

When they were ready, Barriss pulled some little trays out of her bag to use as plates and Anakin slapped a steak on each one and passed them around.

For the next few minutes, the only sounds to be heard were the sounds of chewing and the occasional groan of enjoyment as they all dug in, savouring every bite and making sure to clean up every last piece.

When they were finished Anakin looked around and noticing everyone still looked hungry, started cooking another lot of meat while Barriss brought over the fruit.

And what a feast it made, with as much meat and fruit as they could eat and the fact that it wasn't rations raised their spirits tremendously. 

They ate in silence but towards the end, Rex stood up and sensing a more solemn mood from him they stood too and listened as he began reciting the names of those they'd lost, adding names here and there to remember those they'd lost too. 

Fives, Echo, Jesse, Hardcase, Tup, Kix, Ged, Tank, Ness, Yularen, Gree.

"Your sacrifice will not be in vain" Anakin finished quietly.

They remained silent for a while, then Obi-wan spoke.

"Luminara and I will clean up here, why don't the rest of you get ready for bed" he suggested.

"Alright" Ahsoka agreed with a yawn "Come on Rex" she said, tugging on his arm "We don't want to be left with the rubbish stuff"

Rex rolled his eyes and allowed himself to be dragged over to where the bags of potential bedding had been left.

"What do you think?" she asked, looking at him.

He frowned thoughtfully.

"Well, there's not really much here so we're probably best off using a bunch of the leaves as pillows" he said, grabbing a handful of the soft, spongy leaves they'd found, and folding them into something that resembled a pillow.

Ahsoka copied him and then they moved over to where Barriss and Anakin were clearing a patch of ground of all the pieces of wood they could.

Rex sat down on a cleared spot and laid out his pillow, Ahsoka did the same beside him.

Then he lay back, resting his head on the pillow, which wasn't too bad he conceded.

Cody would have loved this, he thought sadly. But he was gone, along with all his other brothers, leaving him alone.

"You're not alone" Ahsoka whispered, slipping her hand into his and holding tight "I'll be here" she added, wrapping her other arm over his chest.

"Thank you" he said softly, feeling her give him a little squeeze in response and as he drifted off things felt just a little bit better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> Next chapter will hopefully be soon, But I can't promise anything. ; )


	3. Mourning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick look at how the the wider galaxy is taking their disappearance.

Mace Windu sat in one of the council's briefing chambers, glaring at the holocomm, willing it to deliver him the message he was waiting for, but to no avail.

He sighed and ran a hand over his eyes. Obi-wan's battle group was supposed to have checked in four days ago to confirm that their attack was underway after almost two weeks of comm silence getting into position.

But so far nothing, and with every hour that passed he grew more worried.

A quiet tapping sound announced Master Yoda's arrival.

“Offended you, that holocomm has hmm?” Yoda said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Mace grimaced at the holocomm, not looking at the grand master.

“Obi-wan's battle group is four days overdue, I'm... concerned as to what it means”

“Hmm” Yoda frowned “Sensed nothing I have, thought disturbed the force is”

“Yes it is” Mace said thoughtfully “Master Plo's fleet has just finished their campaign in the Raioballo sector near their staging zone, I'll have him divert to investigate”

He got up and activated the holocomm. A few moments later Plo Koon appeared.

“Master Windu” he greeted Mace.

“Master Plo” Mace nodded “I need you to divert to the coordinates I'm sending you. Obi-wan's fleet has disappeared and those were the coordinates they were staging from”

“We will do so at once” Plo nodded.

“Thank you” Mace said, cutting the call and turning to Yoda.

“I have a bad feeling about this” he said quietly.

  


* * *

  


Plo was meditating in his quarters when his comm chimed and Commander Wolffe's voice came through.

_“General, we'll arrive at Aradorn Nine in approximately twelve minutes”_

“Thank you Wolffe” Plo said, standing up “I'm on my way”

He left his room and headed for the bridge.

As he arrived, the ship left hyperspace and the green orb of Aradorn appeared before them, feelings of recent death lingering in the force.

“No sign of General Kenobi's fleet” the Captain called out “But we're picking up a large debris field and signs of a recent engagement”

“Deploy our scouts” Plo ordered, with a sinking feeling inside him. 

His fears were confirmed when the scouts reported the debris's were the remains of Kenobi's fleet and that there were nine separate wrecks, removing the hope that some had escaped.

And when they reported that the escape pods had all been destroyed, giving him flashbacks of the time his fleet had been destroyed by the Malevolence, he lost his last hope of finding little soka alive.

“Are we picking up any life signs?” he asked.

“I'm sorry General” a sensor officer said “there's nothi- wait, I'm getting faint readings from the wreck of the Resolute”

“Send search teams at once” Plo ordered.

  


* * *

  


GAR life sucked, Fives decided. If you weren't being shot at, you were stuck in a ship or a barracks travelling between places where you were being shot at, eating awful food and getting into situations like their current one. Trapped inside the wreck of the Resolute with your four surviving brothers for almost three weeks waiting for a rescue the would probably never come.

“Did you hear that?” a voice said, interrupting his musings.

Fives turned slowly from where he was floating amongst the empty ration packs and water bottles they'd scavenged from the mess's storage bays, above one of the mess hall's tables to face Echo, who was floating by the door.

“Hear what?” he asked.

“That noise just then, sounded like someone moving down the corridor”

“Probably just debris” Jesse said, coughing slightly in the steadily worsening air. 

“Yeah” Fives said “There's got to be a lot of it floating round right now”

The three of them, along with Kix and the new guy, Tup, who was currently asleep, had been sitting down to a late meal when the fleet had been attacked.

Initially thinking it had been another drill, because who would be attacking them out here, they'd decided to stay and finish their meal before going to see what was happening.

That decision had probably saved their lives because not long after the ship had been rocked by explosions and the doors had sealed themselves when the corridor outside had lost integrity.

Shortly after that the power had failed, along with the gravity generators, leaving them floating, helpless, in the dark.

And that had been over two weeks ago now, and any hope of rescue had long since vanished.

“Save your breath” Kix muttered “You're wasting our air”

“I'm telling you, I definitely heard something” Echo insisted.

“Uh-huh” Fives said, in a tone laced with sarcasm “Face it Echo, we're going to die here”

“Will you just-” Echo retorted, but stopped when something banged on the door, in a pattern far to regular to be debris.

“I told you!” Echo shouted, banging back for all he was worth.

Fives switched his helmet, which had been turned off to save power back on and switched to the GAR emergency frequency.

“To whoever's out there, this is Fives of the 501st legion, there are five of us trapped inside the mess”

_“Hello Fives, this is Booster of the 104th, how're you boys doing?”_

“Hanging in there, air's getting a little stale though” he coughed.

_“Alright sit tight, we'll have you out of there in no time”_

“Much appreciated” Fives said, switching off the comm again and turning to his brothers.

“Had to be the kriffing wolf boys didn't it” Jesse complained.

“Hey, at least we're getting out of here” Kix said “Remember to thank them properly and give them a treat or scratch behind the ear”

They all laughed, the dread that had been hanging over them gone now that rescue had arrived.

“I hope the Captain made it out in time” Jesse said quietly.

“Yeah, and the General and Commander” Echo added.

“I'm sure they got out fine” Fives said “You know how tough they are”

“Yeah” Kix said “They're probably on the flagship waiting for us”

  


* * *

  


“Sir, Booster reports five survivors” Wolffe said quietly “All troopers” he added almost apologetically, knowing his General was hoping Commander Tano would be among them.

“Thank you Wolffe, I'll go down and meet them, in the meantime send a team over to the Negotiator and see if they can recover the ship's tactical and memory banks”

“Yes sir” Wolffe replied as his General left the bridge.

Plo made his way down to the hanger and reached the landing bay as the shuttle arrived from the Resolute.

His medical teams were on standby and as the shuttle's ramp lowered, they rushed aboard with their stretchers to remove the men who had survived against all odds.

One by one they came out, looking tired, hungry, but generally rather happy.

“General” the one with the Republic cog tattoo said, struggling to rise after two weeks of no gravity and giving a salute “Were there any other survivors?”

“I'm sorry” Plo said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The trooper sagged back onto the stretcher.

“Not even the General or Commander?”

“No, I'm sorry” Plo said as they were taken away.

The recovery team returned an hour later with both data cores and the remains several droids, one, an astromech he recognised as belonging to Skywalker.

They put the droids in storage for the time being and began extracting data from the cores.

One of the first things to come up was an encrypted message from Obi-wan marked for the council only, so he retreated to his room and after entering his encryption, played the message.

A holo of Kenobi and Unduli appeared before him as Kenobi began to speak.

 _”If you're seeing this message, then unfortunately we've been killed in action”_ He began with a dry smile.

 _“We were betrayed”_ he continued _“And we suspect there is a spy highly placed in the Chancellor's office, that's the only place a leak could have come from and-”_ he stopped and turned to look at something off holo, then returned with a grim look in his eyes.

 _“My fleet is lost and we're just about to abandon ship, find the spy or all of this will have been for nothing, and don't trust anyone, not even the Chancellor”_ he finished and ended the call.

Plo sat there contemplatively for a while then returned to the bridge.

“Captain, have you found any sign of more survivors?”

“Negative sir”

“What about on planet?”

“No sir, something is interfering with our sensors, but by the looks of things, none of the escape pods even got close”

“Alright, thank you Captain” Plo sighed “Do one last scan then recall the scouts and prepare to return to Coruscant, we have information that must be investigated as soon as possible”

“At once General”

  


* * *

  


I understand what you're saying Bail” Padmé said, pausing as one of the bouts of nausea she'd been suffering from the last few days rose up again “But at this time I can't support a bill to request the Chancellor to step down”

Bail sighed and rose from his seat.

“Never mind, it was worth a try” he said as he made his way to the door.

“I'm sorry” she said as she showed him out.

Once the door had closed behind him, her shoulders slumped and she let out a tired sigh of her own, something she'd been doing a lot in the last few days as well.

Frowning thoughtfully, she returned to her desk, pondering what could be the cause of her recent ill health. She wasn't working any harder than usual and she hadn't eaten anything out of the ordinary recently, nor was it the season for the usual colds and flu's and she hadn't been off world either.

But Anakin had, she thought suddenly, on Geonosis and they'd spent a few... intimate nights together, perhaps he'd accidentally given her something.

Quickly pulling up the galactic directory of transmittable diseases, she entered in her symptoms, planet of origin, species, time frame and hit search.

After a moment, one result popped up. Geonosian Hive Flu.

With no small amount of apprehension she clicked on it to bring up the more detailed information.

It's listed symptoms, matched with everything she was feeling so she scrolled down to treatment and what to do if you have it, reading through it quickly, her horror growing.

_Though it's not particularly contagious, usually transmitted by prolonged physical contact, Geonosian Hive Flu is among the more deadly flu's that can be contracted by humans, who without immediate treatment, usually succumb to the flu within a week of symptoms showing._

She dropped her datapad in shock, fatal without immediate treatment. She'd been showing symptoms for almost five days now.

Getting to shaky feet, she rushed from her office and down to the senate hanger, ignoring everyone she passed Arriving there she jumped into her personal ship and took off, heading to the medcentre she preferred because they were discrete.

She weaved dangerously through the morning traffic, preying to the force it hadn't progressed too far to treat.

When she arrived she parked in a manner that would have made Anakin proud and rushed inside.

“I need to see a doctor immediately!” she shouted to the woman at the receptionist's desk as she ran up to her.

“Of course Senator, please follow me”

The woman led her down a hall and stopped outside one of the doors, opening it she waved her inside and returned to her desk.

Padmé stepped inside, closed the door and turned to face the medical droid waiting inside.

“What seems to be the problem?” it asked as she took a seat in the chair it indicated.

Then she launched into an explanation of her symptoms, the research she'd done and her conclusion that she had Geonosian Hive Flu.

The droid listened without interrupting then asked her to move to the examination bed while he ran some tests.

The droid took a blood sample, listened to her vital signs, checked her temperature and took a swap from her mouth.

“I have the samples I need now” it informed her “I shall now run some tests, it won't take more than fifteen minutes to get results”

“Okay” she nodded, hands shaking slightly.

Those fifteen minutes were the most nerve racking, including the time in the Geonosian arena and she almost sobbed in relief when the droid turned to her with the results.

“Well I can confirm that you are not suffering from Geonosian Hive Flu” it said.

Padmé slumped with relief, letting out a shaky breath she'd been holding.

“So what's wrong with me then?” she asked, her composure returning.

“Nothing, medically at least” the droid said “Your symptoms are what is normally associated with the first term of pregnancy”

“What!” she exclaimed.

“By my estimation you are almost three weeks pregnant” it responded.

She just gaped at it.

“Are you sure?” she asked incredulously when she found her voice.

“Ninety nine point nine nine nine five percent certain” it answered “Was there anything else I can help you with?”

“No, that's... that's everything” she replied numbly as the droid proceeded to usher her out.

She walked back down the hall, mind unusually quiet, contemplating the news.

“Everything alright Senator?” the receptionist asked as she passed.

“Oh, yes, fine” Padmé replied absently “False alarm”

“That's good to hear” she said with a smile, before returning to her work.

Padmé made her way outside in a daze and boarded her ship, once inside she collapsed into the pilots seat.

“I'm pregnant” she said to herself, then she smiled.

“I'm pregnant” she said again with a laugh, the sound a mixture of joy and relief

“What am I going to tell Anakin?” she asked herself “He'll be so excited”

She sat there for a while longer, then powered up her ship and set a course for the senate, feeling a lot happier than she had an hour earlier.

  


* * *

  


Palpatine was fuming. Had been since Dooku informed him Grevious's mission to capture Anakin had failed and that the chosen one was now missing presumed killed. He still had hope that Anakin had somehow escaped, but that was growing smaller with each day that passed.

It had taken all of his considerable self control to not jump into the first ship he could and go kill both of them personally for their failures because, much as he hated to admit it, he still needed them for the time being.

The chime of his holocomm interrupted his thoughts on the best way to get rid of them when the time came. The caller id informing him it was a member of the Jedi council.

He accepted the call and a holo of Master Windu appeared before him.

“Ah, Master Windu, to what do I owe the pleasure” Palpatine said, smiling jovially though he had a good idea as to what this call was about.

 _“Bad news I'm afraid”_ Windu responded, looking haggard.

“Oh” Palpatine sighed “Which worlds have we lost today?”

 _“Not a world this time, three fleets”_ Windu said gravely _“Kenobi's, Skywalker's and Unduli's to be exact”_

“Oh dear, are they alright?” Palpatine asked, concerned for only one of the three.

 _“I'm afraid not”_ Windu said _“When the fleets failed to check in I sent the 104th to investigate, they discovered what was left of their fleet still in orbit around Aradorn Nine completely destroyed, almost everyone assigned to them have been declared killed in action”_

“Even Master Kenobi and General Skywalker?” he asked with not entirely feigned shock.

 _“I'm afraid so”_ Windu said _“And their mission is a total failure as well. I'm in the process of drawing up a full report and I'll send it to you when complete”_

“Alright, thank you Master Windu” Palpatine said, cutting the call.

When the holo had faded he leaned back into his chair, pondering how this mess would affect his plans for the galaxy.

“Shouldn't be too much of an issue” he said aloud after a moments thought “He would have made a useful apprentice but his loss means nothing in the long term”

“No” Sidious muttered “And if Grevious can kill him that easily, he probably wouldn't have made a very good Apprentice anyway”

“Hmm... you're probably right” Palpatine replied “Though I would have liked to have told him the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise, just to see what he did”

“That would have been... entertaining” Sidious said after a moment “Who should we replace him with?”

Palpatine frowned thoughtfully.

“Difficult to say, considering our second choice died on that mission too”

“What? Offee?”

“Yes”

Sidious scoffed.

“Why her? We might as well try corrupting Master Windu”

“I wouldn't be so sure, last time we were in her presence I sensed a hint of darkness in her, something that with time I'm sure we could have exploited”

“Perhaps” Sidious said dubiously “What about Krell?”

“Krell!” Palpatine laughed “He'd make a good pawn but not much else”

He stood suddenly and began pacing in front of the window that ran the length of his office.

“We need someone we can manipulate, someone with secrets that go against the Jedi code” He muttered “Someone who'd willingly embrace our cause to protect whatever it is”

“Secura?” Sidious suggested “Our spies report she is... involved with her Commander”

“A possibility” Palpatine conceded “Considering she has fallen to the dark side once already”

“Ahh yes, I'd forgotten about that” Sidious smiled wistfully “Vos also has potential” he continued.

“Vos is crazy” Palpatine argued.

“Which is why he'd be perfect” Sidious countered.

“Hmm, alright. Put him on the list” Palpatine relented “We need to investigate further though, I'm sure there are many Jedi just waiting for the opportunities we can provide”

“Yes, a matter to decide later” Sidious agreed “Now, it's time for something more enjoyable”

“And what might that be?” Palpatine smiled.

“I think it only right that we inform Senator Amidala of her husband's death, letting her find out over the holonet would be cruel” Sidious said with an evil smile.

“Quite right” Palpatine said, sitting back down at his desk and placing a call to her.

 _“Chancellor, what can I do for you?”_ she asked when the call connected.

“Padmé, could you come up to my office, I'm afraid I have grave news” he said sombrely.

  


* * *

  


_”... I'm afraid I have grave news”_

“Of course Chancellor, I'll be right up” Padmé said.

 _”Thank you”_ Palpatine said, cutting the call.

“I wonder what could have happened” she mused.

“What was that milady?” Teckla asked.

“Oh, I need to go see the Chancellor” Padmé replied, heading for the door “Why don't you head home, take the rest of the day off. I'll head back as well once I'm done with the Chancellor”

“Do you want me to wait for you milady?”

“No that's fine, I'm not sure how long this will take. You go, do something fun” she smiled as she stepped out of her office, an “As you wish milady” following her out.

She snorted as she walked towards the turbolift, though she loved her handmaidens, sometimes they took their jobs a little too seriously and she had yet to catch any of them doing anything that could be remotely considered “fun”. 

Maybe after she was done here she could get them to help her plan a party to celebrate her new baby, for just the five of them, girls only, she smirked.

Once she was in the turbolift she had to work to keep the smile off her face, still high on the joy of discovering she was pregnant. 

She managed to put on a suitably sombre when the doors opened and she stepped out into the reception area of his office. 

She smiled at his secretary, who waved her through and she walked into his office.

The Chancellor was sitting at his desk, chair facing the window and turned as she approached.

She froze, she'd never seen him look so grave before, not even when Naboo was being blockaded by the Trade Federation. 

“Thank you for coming up” he said quietly “Have a seat, this news may be hard to take” 

She sat slowly, dread filling her.

“What's happened?” she asked.

“There's no kind way to say this so I'll just say it” he said and she felt her heart clench “Almost three weeks ago a fleet led by General Kenobi and General Skywalker went missing, I was hoping for the best but the Jedi council has just informed me that the fleet has been found destroyed along with all it's crew, that... that General's Kenobi and Skywalker were killed in action” he finished sadly.

Padmé stared at him in shock, mouth moving soundlessly as her heart imploded, Anakin, her Ani, was gone.

Somehow, she managed to stand.

“Thank you for informing me” she managed to choke out, before stumbling away from him and towards the turbolift.

“I'm sorry, Padmé” he said in a concerned voice as she made it to the lift.

The doors closed behind her as she desperately tried to maintain her composure, breath coming in ragged gasps. She just had to make it back to her office, she told herself, then she could fall apart.

The doors opened and she walked, almost blinded by unshed tears to her office, vaguely aware of passing Riyo, who called out to her with concern, but she ignored her and reached her office, thankful she'd already sent Teckla home and shut and locked the door behind her before collapsing into a chair.

Only then did she allow the tears to fall, the sobs to come.

All their hopes for the future, dreams of them starting a family together away from the core and politics and the Jedi, shattered.

And their child, their child would grow up without knowing their father.

That realization brought on a renewed wave of sobs as she spiralled down into misery, ignoring the repeated knocks on her door and the incessant chiming of her comlink. 

Eventually, they subsided, leaving her feeling numb and tired and with a last sniffle she fell into an uneasy sleep.

  


* * *

  


In her dreams, Anakin called out for help before falling into a black void while her child cried and asked where daddy had gone. 

She woke with a start later that afternoon, an awful cramp in her back, to find the news all over the holonet, with many of the news channels running special reports on the tragedy and what it meant for the republic. It was from on of those shows that she learned that three other Jedi, including Ahsoka had also been killed along with three legions of clones and that there had been only five survivors recovered from the wreckage.

There were also repeats of Master Windu announcing the news as well as the Chancellor's statement that this was a sad day for the republic and that they must stand strong and work together to bring those responsible to justice.

The report finished with a brief bit saying that a funeral will be held for the Jedi tomorrow afternoon, then went to an ad break.

She switched it off and pulled out her comm, hesitating slightly before calling Dormé. Her handmaiden answered instantly, sounding very relieved to hear from her.

“Milady, I'm so sorry” Dormé said quietly.

“Thank you” Padmé said softly, fresh tears falling down her cheeks.

“Is there anything I can do?” Dormé asked.

“Would you be able to find out when the funeral is being held?” 

“Of course milady”

“Thank you, I'll be coming home shortly”

“Okay, I'll send Teckla to come and pick you up”

“Alright, thank you Dormé”

She ended the call and slumped back into her chair, fighting the rush of sadness that threatened to overwhelm her.

She sat like that, lost in her thoughts, until Teckla arrived with a tentative knock at the door.

Forcing herself to stand, she walked over to the door and opened it.

Teckla stepped quickly inside and shut the door again.

“I'm so sorry, milady” Teckla said as Padmé returned to her chair.

“Thank you” Padmé whispered.

Teckla, along with her other handmaidens were the only people who knew the secret of her relationship with Anakin, so knew just how heartbroken she was.

Teckla followed her over and knelt down beside her, pulling out a small make-up bag.

“I'll just tidy things up a little bit then I'll take you home” she said, taking out make-up wipes and cleaning up the running mascara on her cheeks and around her eyes. 

Padmé nodded and let her work. She finished quickly then helped her to her feet and led her to the hanger where she'd parked her speeder.

Teckla helped her inside and climbed into the drivers seat, taking off and setting a course for home.

Dormé met them at the balcony landing pad and the two handmaidens took Padmé through to her room, while Ellé brought her some tea.

“The funeral will be held tomorrow afternoon at 3pm” Dormé told her quietly “And I'm so sorry for your loss”

Padmé managed a nod of thanks, not trusting herself to speak, 

“Shall I make the arrangements for your attendance?” she asked.

Padmé nodded again.

“If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a while” she said.

Dormé and Teckla looked at each other but made no complaints and left her with her misery.

When they were gone, she went over to her dresser and pulled out a set of robes Anakin had forgotten last time he spent the night. Returning to her bed, she wrapped herself in them and curled up under the covers, silent tears streaming down her cheeks.

At one point, she heard one of her handmaidens come in and check on her, but after that she was left alone for the rest of the night.

  


* * *

  


There was a small gathering of beings there to attend the funerals of the five Jedi killed, not many really for five heroes of the republic, but Jedi were private beings and only members of the order along with some politicians and other officials who had known them personally were present.

That didn't bother Padmé at all as she walked into the hall it was being held, apart from her, the only people that had really cared about Anakin had died with him.

She stood there, head bowed with Dormé beside her as Master Yoda hobbled in.

Silence fell across the hall as Yoda stepped into the centre of the room and began to speak, about the force and how it was a part of every living thing and that they should rejoice them becoming one with it.

Padmé tuned him out after a bit. He had no idea what Anakin was really like or what he'd wanted from life, a life he'd never get to live, she thought sadly.

Not long after, Yoda finished his speech and she waited for someone else to step forward, but no one did. Instead the five symbolic caskets slowly began to sink into the ground.

Beams of light rose from them as Master Yoda said something she didn't really pay attention to and when they faded so did the silence as everyone began talking quietly with their neighbours.

She saw the Chancellor looking her way and suddenly wanted to leave, tired of having to put on an act in front of everyone.

She glanced around, looking for a way to make a quick escape and spotted a group she hadn't noticed before. A group of clones in the colours of Anakin's legion, that surprised her, because she'd thought they'd all died with him.

So ignoring the Chancellor's attempts to get her attention, she made her way over to them, curious as to how they'd survived.

As she got closer, she could make out more details on them and recognised several of them from Anakin's descriptions of his men. Kix was the one with the lightning patterns shaved in his hair, Jesse had the Republic Cog tattooed on his face, Fives was the one with the goatee and Echo had the handprint on his armour she remembered, the fifth one was new though, with a long ponytail.

“Hello” she said quietly when she reached them.

“Senator Amidala” they said, coming slightly to attention

“We're sorry for your loss” Fives said, taking the lead.

“Thank you” she said “And I'm sorry for yours”

They looked surprised for a moment, as if someone outside their legion caring about them was strange, then they smiled.

“Thank you Senator” Fives said. The rest nodded in agreement

“Please, call me Padmé” she said.

“Umm, okay Sen- er, Padmé” Fives said awkwardly “I'm Fives” he added, holding out his hand.

She smiled and shook it, then the one she thought was Jesse nudged Fives out of the way and held out his hand too.

“I'm Jesse” he said.

After Jesse came Kix, then Echo and lastly, Tup.

“Anak- General Skywalker's told me a lot about you guys” she said as Tup stepped back.

“All bad probably” Fives smiled.

“And all true” Kix sighed.

“He did mention some uhm… _events_ , but he seemed to be happy with you guys.” Padmé said, smiling back at them, but then she noticed that the rest of them looked down and wondered what would happen to them now.

“Are they going to rebuild the 501st?” she asked.

“No,” Fives said sadly “It's been listed as destroyed”

“What's going to happen to you then?” she asked.

“We'll probably be split up and sent to bolster other legions” he said and she could see this was what was upsetting them, the thought of losing their legion and being separated. Then a crazy idea occurred to her.

“Or...” she said hesitantly, then rushed through with it “I could request you as my personal bodyguards, that way you could stay together and... yeah” she finished and heard a quiet sigh from Dormé, who had been silent up till then.

The men visibly perked up but responded hesitantly.

“That... would be nice, but we don't want to impose on you” Fives said

“It wouldn't be any trouble at all” she said quickly, almost desperately.

“Well...” he glanced at the others, who all nodded “Alright then” and they all smiled.

“Great” she said, smiling too “I'll make the arrangements and have quarters set up for you if you want to move out of the barracks”

“Alright” Fives said. “We’d have to move out anyway”

“Okay, do you have any kind of beds you prefer?” she asked.

“Umm” they glanced at each other “Just bunks would be fine” Jesse said after a moment.

“Are you sure? Cause I can get ones that are far more comfortable”

“Yeah it's... it's what we're used to” he said quietly.

“Alright then” she said, then spotted Master Yoda about to leave the hall.

“Be right back” she said, moving quickly to catch him

“Master Yoda, do you have a moment?” she asked when she reached him.

“For you, of course Senator” he said “Help you, how may I?”

“I was wondering if I could have the survivors of the 501st assigned to my personal protection detail, because after everything that's happened to them don't you think they've seen enough fighting?”

“Hmm... talked to them have you?” he asked.

“Yes, And they've all said yes, with your permission”

“Hmm... very well then, serve you they will”

“Thank you” she said, bowing respectfully and returning to them to tell them the good news.

“Master Yoda said yes” she told them when she reached them.

“That's great” Fives said, looking relieved.

“Yeah” she replied.

They talked for a bit longer, then made arrangements to pick them up tomorrow morning from the barracks.

Then with Dormé leading the way they returned to her speeder and flew home, feeling just a little better than she had yesterday.

  


* * *

  


Jesse reached into the locker that had belonged to their fallen Captain and removed the spare helmet he'd kept there. He dusted it off and placed it carefully in one of his bags.

“Is that everything?” Jesse asked, looking up at his four surviving brothers assembled in the deserted 501st barracks.

“I think so” Tup said, picking up his backpack.

“It's not like we had anything in the first place though anyway” Fives said, holding a blaster Rex had broken by whacking him on the head with it.

“Can't say I'm sad to leave” Echo said as he closed his own bag “It feels... wrong to be here without the others”

“Yeah” Kix said quietly, tucking something into his bag.

They stood there for a moment in silence, not really wanting to leave but not sure what they wanted to do.

“Come on” Fives said eventually “Dormé will be here soon and we don't want to keep her waiting”

They gathered up everything they were taking and headed outside to await their pickup.

Not long after Dormé arrived in a large speeder. She pulled up beside them and waved them impatiently aboard.

They piled their gear and packs in it's cargo bay and climbed inside, Kix claimed the seat beside Dormé, leaving the others to squeeze in the back. 

“Thank you” Kix said as they lifted off.

She seemed like she was going to say something, but instead she sighed and nodded, giving him a little smile.

“You're welcome” she said.

“You don't seem entirely happy about us joining your... team” Kix said after a moment.

She grimaced at him.

“It's not you” she said “It's just... whenever the Senator is in pain she seems to reach out to anyone else she sees in pain and puts all her energy into helping them to forget her own pain”

“Ahh” he said “Even to the detriment of her own health”

“Yes exactly” she exclaimed “And because it's her...”

“Husband” Kix supplied.

She turned to gape at him.

“How'd you know that?”

“I was the legion's medic, and the General used to talk in his sleep” he replied, deadpan. 

“And he was as subtle as a Bantha when he was awake” Fives added “It was hard not to at least suspect it, with the way he talked about Senator Amidala”

She looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she settled for shaking her head.

“And don't worry, we'll help you as much as we can” Kix added.

“Thank you” she said, giving him a grateful look before focusing back on piloting again.

The senator met them on the landing platform and ushered them inside.

Waiting for them was a man she introduced as the head of her security, Captain Typho, who seemed very excited to have them joining his team.

Then she introduced them to the rest of her handmaidens. Moteé, Ellé and Teckla, who eyed them curiously as they introduced themselves.

Then the Captain went off to see to something and the Senator told them to leave all their gear in the lounge while she gave them a tour of the apartment.

So they piled it all up as neatly as they could and followed after her as she began showing them her home, the handmaidens trailing along behind them.

The apartment had two levels, the top one was where the senator spent most of her time, with her bedroom, main lounge, kitchen and dining room, while the lower level contained the security station, another office for her, a small gym and the staff quarters, which include their own private lounge and another kitchen and dining room.

Their room was off of the main hall, near the stairs leading up to the second level, with three sets of bunks as requested and a row of lockers for them.

And these weren't military bunks either, as Tup found out when he sat on one to try it out.

“Woah” he exclaimed as he sank into it “Have you ever felt anything so soft?”

So of course the rest of them had to try them out, to the amusement of the watching women.

“I take it they'll be acceptable” Padmé said as they made their way back up to the lounge.

“Yeah” Jesse replied “They're perfect”

Once they were back upstairs, the handmaidens drifted off to attend to their duties while they collected their gear and went to put it in their new quarters.

Echo, Jesse, Tup and Kix went on ahead, but Fives paused at the top of the stairs and turned back to thank the senator again and noticed she was on the verge of tears again.

She saw him looking and quickly tried to hide it.

“You don't need to hide it” he said quietly “We know what he meant to you”

She stared back at him questioningly.

“Well, I mean, the General wasn't the most subtle man, the way he talked about you it was pretty clear that-” he cut himself off “What I mean is you don't need to hide your feelings from us, we understand” he finished, then before he could put his foot in it any further, he turned and began walking down the stairs.

“Talked about me a lot did he?” she said softly.

“Yeah” he grinned “Aside from Commander Tano, you were his main topic of conversation”

Despite her misery, Padmé rolled her eyes.

“Don't believe half of what he said” she told him.

“Oh we didn't” Fives smirked “There was this one he told us about how you were chained to poles in a Geonosian arena and were going to be fed to some wild creatures” he shook his head “Crazy, but they were still great stories”

She actually managed a laugh.

“That really did happen” she told him, smiling at the memory.

“What?!” he gasped.

“Yeah” she said “It was an... interesting week”

“I'll bet” he said thoughtfully “I wonder how many of the rest are true then?”

“Well, you'll have to tell me them sometime” she said.

“Sure” he said “Just say when”

“Alright, thank you Fives” she replied “I'll let you get settled in”

Fives nodded and headed back down the stairs while Padmé returned to her bedroom, hoping things wouldn't seem so dark tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading : )
> 
> Edit: 15/09. My apologies for the delay with the next chapter. I'm not happy with what I have, so Chapter 4 is undergoing a major rewrite and unfortunately, I can't promise a publish date any time soon : (


	4. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Jedi and Rex search for Cody and his men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The events of this chapter start before what happened in chapter 3 and carry on past it.

The days passed surprisingly quickly and before they knew it, they'd been trapped on world for a week, and aside from the constant threat of death, which she was used to anyway, Ahsoka found she rather enjoyed being stuck here with the people she liked most.

She still missed all the men they'd lost, mourned their deaths every day, but it was hard to remain sad with all the lightness and force energy this world projected.

And every day there was something new and exciting to see or do, but what she enjoyed most was hunting, either alone or with Rex and Anakin, and having fresh meat every night, something she'd really missed during the long months on the front lines.

Today promised to be another exciting one, she thought, as the morning light streamed into their temporary home, since they were going to see if they could find out what had happened to Cody and his men.

“All set?” Obi-wan asked her, securing a pack on his back.

“Yep,” she nodded, standing and picking up her own pack.

“Rex?”

“Ready to go General,” Rex nodded.

"Good," Obi-wan said, "Lets get going."

She nodded and followed him and Rex out the door.

Anakin, Barriss and Luminara also came out to see them off, having decided last night that it would be better if only half of them went looking while the others stayed behind and looked after things at their camp. 

That had naturally led to an argument about who would be going and who had to stay behind.

Obi-wan had announced he was going, since Cody was his Commander and friend, and nobody had been inclined to argue with him.

Rex also said he was going and no amount of arguing or reasoning had changed his mind.

Anakin had also wanted to go, but she'd countered saying it made far more sense for her to go.

The argument had turned heated pretty quickly, with neither of them willing to give an inch, till Luminara had intervened, saying Ahsoka was the better choice because of her hunting and tracking abilities along with her more acute senses.

Anakin had conceded with only a bit of muttering after both Barriss and Obi-wan agreed.

After that had been decided, talk had turned to planning their search and any supplies they'd need to bring before they called it a night and went to sleep.

“Be careful,” Anakin said quietly, giving her a quick hug.

“Don't worry,” she smirked, as the others said their goodbyes too. “I won't do anything you wouldn't.”

“That makes me feel so much better,” he said sarcastically, though he was smiling.

“Sir, we should get going,” Rex said, looking almost desperate to get moving. “We don't want to waste the light.”

“Quite right,” Obi-wan agreed, sharing a last look with Luminara before turning and heading in the direction their pods had come down.

“We'll try to be back before dark,” he called over his shoulder as she and Rex followed after him.

“You'd better be!” Luminara shouted back, making him laugh.

“Where do you want to start?” Ahsoka asked as they caught up to him.

“Hmm, probably where our pod crashed, we came down first so they have to have come down somewhere west of that position.”

“Okay,” Ahsoka nodded, and they set off.

  


* * *

  


It took them several hours to make their way to the site Obi-wan's pod had crashed at, by which time it was almost midday and they decided to take a break and have something to eat before they went any further.

“We came in from that direction,” Obi-wan pointed, as they ate. “And they flew over us and kept going that way,” he indicated.

“And they went down before we did so they have to be somewhere in between,” Ahsoka added.

“Yes,” Rex agreed, “Now we just have to find a sign of their landing.”

“Piece of cake,” she replied as they set off again.

It turned out to not be as easy as she'd hoped, as they saw no sigh of anything that could have been a pod crashing through the trees by the time they reached their own pod site.

And their second pass revealed nothing either and by that time it was getting late.

“We'd better head back,” Obi-wan said, “We don't want to get caught out here in the dark. We'll come back tomorrow and keep looking.”

They reluctantly agreed and headed back home, marking a path they could easily follow back in the morning and returned to the others feeling tired and more than a little dispirited.

The next morning, they left as early as they could and resumed the search from where they'd left off.

But by late afternoon, they still hadn't found anything and Rex was starting to feel worried.

“We'll find them,” she said quietly, giving his hand a squeeze.

“I hope so,” he sighed, “Cody's the only brother I have left.”

They kept looking, but to no avail and were just about to call it a day when Ahsoka stopped suddenly.

“Is that what I think it is?,” she asked, pointing at a single broken branch in the next tree over, a note of excitement in her voice.

“Could be,” Obi-wan agreed, “Let's get a closer look.”

They quickly made their way over to the tree.

“Yep, it was definitely a pod,” Obi-wan said, holding up a small piece of metal that had been embedded in the tree and could have only come from a pod crashing through.

“Yeah, and it went down there,” Ahsoka added, pointing further down into the forest, where she could see more marks of the pod's passage.

“Wow,” Rex commented, “Must have taken some skill to fly down there.”

“Yeah,” Ahsoka said excitedly, “Which means they probably their landing.”

“Only one way to find out,” Obi-wan said.

With growing excitement, they followed the path as it went deeper into the forest, until the light began to dim.

“I think we should head back,” Obi-wan said, “It's getting late and we don't know what's down this deep.”

“But we could be close,” Rex argued.

“Perhaps, but we're no use to anyone if we get eaten by some creature.”

“Alright,” Ahsoka agreed, “At least we know where to look now.”

“Yes,” Rex sighed, looking longingly down the path of destruction they'd been following.

They returned home with a great deal more enthusiasm than yesterday and wasted no time telling the others of their discovery.

“How deep do you think they could be?” Luminara asked when they'd finished.

“I don't know,” Rex admitted, “I couldn't see anything on my HUD.”

“They could have reached the ground, though I doubt it,” Obi-wan said.

“We'll find out tomorrow,” Ahsoka said, cleaning up the last of her dinner and licking the plate clean. 

"Enjoyed that did you?" Anakin smirked. 

"Yep," Ahsoka replied, looking unabashed.

“I think we should all go,” Barriss said, and when they all looked at her she elaborated. “We don't know what's down there so going together will increase the likely hood of surviving and more pairs of eyes will mean more chances of spotting a clue to what's happened to them or anything that might be a danger to us,” she paused to take a breath. “And I wouldn't mind collecting some samples of whatever's down there.”

“Good idea,” Anakin agreed, taking a bite out of one of the sweeter, juicier, fruits they'd found, resulting in a large amount of juice running down his chin, getting a smile from Barriss and a disgusted look from Ahsoka. 

“Enjoying that are you?” Barriss teased. 

He nodded and took another large bite.

“I don't see any reason why we shouldn't,” Obi-wan said, ignoring their antics.

The others couldn't think of anything against it either, so it was agreed that they'd all go this time.

They spent the rest of the evening preparing then went to bed.

  


* * *

  


Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, Ahsoka woke to the sound of footsteps.

Her eyes snapped open and in the predawn light she noticed Rex quietly making his way outside.

Curious, she got up and crept out after him.

She poked her head out the door and looked around, not seeing him till a noise above her made her look up and she spotted him sitting on the next branch up, staring in the direction the sun would come up.

“Hey,” she said, climbing up beside him.

“Good morning Commander,” he said.

“Rex, please, we're friends aren't we? You can call me Ahsoka.”

Rex's expression turned thoughtful for a moment, then a shy smile formed on his face.

“Alright, Ahsoka,” he said and she smiled.

“Thanks,” she said, bumping shoulders with him. “What are you doing up here so early?”

“It's so peaceful at this time and I love watching the sun rise, never had any on Kamino and on the battlefield there's never time to enjoy them,” he sighed.

“No, there isn't,” she sighed as well.

They sat there in silence, watching the sky lighten.

Then streaks of light filled the sky as the horizon turned gold with the rising of the sun, lighting up the branch and them with it and she found herself staring at him and the way the dawn light lit up his face, igniting feelings she thought she'd long since gotten over.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” he whispered.

“Yes,” she agreed, not sure if she was talking about the sunrise or something else entirely.

They sat there for a while, enjoying each others company, until she sensed the others awakening.

“Come on,” she said getting up, “The others are getting up and are probably wondering where we are.”

  


* * *

  


“This is it,” Ahsoka said, several hours later as the six of them reached the point Cody's pod had disappeared into the trees.

“How did we miss it before? We walked along not far from here when we were looking for Master Obi-wan and Luminara,” Barriss said.

“Well, that time we were focused on other things,” Anakin said. “And I had a head injury and you were making sure I didn't fall off the branch.”

“I suppose,” Barriss smirked, “But we still should have noticed something.”

“What matters is that we've found it now,” Luminara interrupted.

“I just hope they're still alive,” Rex said. “Or that they didn't suffer,” he added quietly.

“Let's get going then, shall we?” Obi-wan said, disrupting the suddenly depressed mood. 

“Lead the way,” Luminara said and they began their decent into the trees.

The going was easy up to the point they'd stopped last time. But beyond that, things got tricker.

With less light filtering down, not only was it darker, it was also wetter and slipperier, so they had to move carefully.

On a more positive note, there was an abundance of new plant and creature life and Barriss soon had her sample bags full of things to test later.

The path went deeper and deeper and around them the plants changed again, looking more and more carnivorous and dangerous the further they went.

Every so often, they stopped so that Barriss could collect some more samples of whatever was around them. Glowing mushrooms and lichens, strange bugs and a variety of other things.

“How deep did they go?” Ahsoka asked some time later.

“Hard to say,” Obi-wan said as Barriss stopped to have a look at something. “Can't tell how much further down to the ground it is can you, Rex?”

“I'll check,” Rex said, stepping to the edge of the branch and looking down as Barriss let out an excited exclamation.

“Look at this,” she said, pointing at a small, unusual looking mushroom that was glowing a brilliant blue. They all gathered around, all except Rex, who was still trying to find the ground.

“No, I can't see anything General, it just keeps on going and-” 

They all looked up, startled, as he let out a yelp and lost his footing.

“REX!” Ahsoka screamed as he tumbled down the branch and over the side.

“NO!” She screamed, diving to the edge to see him falling, as if in slow motion.

Quickly drawing on the force, she reached out and grabbed him with the force, stopping his fall.

“I got you!” she shouted, more to herself than him as she lifted him up. “I got you.”

She couldn't make out his expression with his helemt on, but she could feel his immence relief as slowly but surely he came back to her, and when he was within reach she grabbed him and dragged him up the branch as the others gathered around, seeing if they could help.

When he was safe, she collapsed, half on him as the panic that had been kept at bay by action almost overwhelmed her.

“I got you, I got you,” she repeated, over and over as they lay their, both gasping for breath.

She was aware of the others moving around them but didn't pay attention to them as she held Rex tight, feelings she'd long denied pouring out of her at the thought of losing him and didn't care if the others sensed it either.

“Thank you,” he said eventually.

“You're welcome,” she said, managing a shaky smile.

"We should probably get up," Rex said, not long after.

"Yeah," she sighed quietly and rolled off of him, getting to her feet, then helping him up and not letting go of his arm once she had, something he didn't question as they walked over to where the others were sitting.

“How're you two doing?” Obi-wan asked as they joined them.

“We're fine,” Ahsoka answered.

“Good,” Obi-wan smiled, before his expression turned serious. “I think we should head back now, It's getting late and after that incident I think we should cut our loses and get out of here before something else happens.”

“Good idea,” Ahsoka said, as Rex said, “But what about Cody?”

“We'll talk about it more when we get back, but Luminara and I scouted ahead a bit and it looks too dangerous to go any further today.”

“Yes Sir,” Rex sighed.

"It'll be alright Rex," Ahsoka said, still holding onto him. "We'll come back."

Rex just nodded as they began to make their way back home.

  


* * *

  


Their return that evening was one of defeat as they stumbled into their home and slumped onto their beds.

Obi-wan and Barriss began preparing a meal while Rex and Ahsoka sat together on their beds and Anakin and Luminara talked quietly, evidently discussing something important judging from their serious expressions.

When the food was ready they passed around plates and ate in silence.

When they were finished, Anakin collected their plates, then came back and joined them as Obi-wan stood.

“Now that that's out of the way,” he began, “I think we should discuss today and whether or not we want to proceed.”

“What do you mean?” Rex asked, straightening.

“I mean, do we want to risk another trip down there when... I hate to say it but... When there is little hope they're still alive,” Obi-wan said grimly.

“What!? Of course we need to keep looking, they'd never give up on us if we were missing.”

“I know,” Obi-wan said quietly, “But we need to face the facts and from what Luminara and I saw down there, there's very little chance they survived and we couldn't sense any intelligent life either.”

“There's still a chance though,” Rex argued. “You know Cody almost as well as I do, if anyone could have survived it's him.”

“We know-” Obi-wan began but Rex cut him off.

“Then why are you giving up on him!?” he almost yelled.

“YOU ALMOST DIED TODAY!” Anakin shouted, getting silence and looks from everyone.

“We don't want to lose another friend here,” he continued more quietly.

Rex stared at him for a while, then tears began rolling down his cheeks.

“It's just... he's my brother,” Rex said quietly.

Ahsoka was crying now too as she wrapped her arms around him, not sure what to say but pouring everything she felt into the force and him.

Then his arms came up around her as his shoulders began to shake.

She held him more tightly as she felt her own tears pooling where her face was pressed against his armour. 

Then she felt another set of arms around her as Anakin joined them, tearing up a little as well.

Obi-wan, Luminara and Barriss quickly followed and soon all six of them were hugging each other tightly, all of them shedding tears as they let out everything that had been bottled up inside them since their arrival.

Eventually, they ran out of energy and dragged all their beds together, huddling close as Luminara turned the light out.

  


* * *

  


The next morning, Anakin woke to find himself, on his side and pressed between two bodies. When he opened his eyes he recognised the one in front of him as Rex, with Ahsoka curled into his other side and on her other side were Obi-wan and Luminara... no, he didn't want to think about it. Which meant the arm around his waist belonged to Barriss he thought with surprise, carefully turning around to face her, trying not to disturb her.

But despite being careful, he must have disturbed her because her eyes cracked open and peered at him.

“Morning,” he said with a small smile.

“'Good morning,” she replied sleepily, snuggling back into him, much to his surprise.

As he lay there wondering what to do next, she slowly edged back, surprise and a dark blush on her spreading across her face.

“Sorry,” she gasped, rolling away from him.

“That's alright,” he muttered, his own face a bit red too, “After last night, I think we all needed it and I certainly feel much better.” 

“Me too,” she said softly, looking at him intently. But before he could ask about it, there was a loud groan from Ahsoka.

“Morning already?” she said with another groan, hiding her face in Rex's shoulder, who was staring blankly at the ceiling.

He saw her whisper something to Rex, who after a moment nodded and Anakin let out a small sigh of relief, Rex would be alright, he just needed some time.

“What?” Barriss asked softly.

He turned back to her to find her still looking at him.

“I'll tell you later,” he whispered, before getting up to see to breakfast.

They took the rest of the day easy, sticking together and generally being there to support each other, especially Rex, who Ahsoka stuck to like glue and that evening they held another memorial and added Cody's name, along with Boil's and Waxer's to their wall, with three spaces for the troopers they didn't know.

No one else was going to die here, Anakin promised himself as they settled in for the night, not if he could help it.

  


* * *

  


It said a lot about her previous life that she didn't miss it at all, Barriss thought as she sat with Ahsoka and Rex, peeling fruits for lunch and found herself secretly hoping that rescue wouldn't come because there really was nothing to go back to, everyone she cared about was either with her or dead and the only thing to return to was the war and death.

It wasn't something she'd ever admit aloud though, as Anakin was apparently counting the seconds till rescue arrived, if it came at all, something she was beginning to doubt.

And she knew Obi-wan and her Master thought it unlikely too. They'd tried to be discrete, but she'd heard them talking late one night when they thought everyone else was asleep.

And that was another thing that had come to light in the three weeks they'd been stuck here. Her Master's relationship with Obi-wan, something she'd never suspected until the aftermath of their search for Cody, when she'd walked in on them mid kiss. 

They hadn't even been concerned, they'd just looked at her, like it was an everyday occurrence and after a moment of shock, she'd dropped her bag and bolted from the room, mumbling apologies as she left and afterwards she couldn't even look at them without blushing for three days. And her Master had taken a strange delight in eliciting that reaction from her whenever they were together.

Now though, they'd done it so much she was used to it and the only surprise had been when Anakin told them they made a lovely couple when they began to openly show it, which had surprised them almost as much as it surprised her, she thought, smiling at the memory.

“Do you think this is enough?” Ahsoka asked, holding up her bowl and interrupting her reminiscing.

“Um, yeah, it should be,” Barriss said, once she'd factored in hers and Rex's bowls.

“Good, I don't think my hands could take anymore,” she sighed.

“Going soft are we?” Rex teased, picking up her bowl with his and heading inside.

She smiled as Ahsoka made outraged noises and chased after him, glad Rex was doing a lot better now. They'd been worried for the first few days after their failed search for Cody, but Rex had pulled through.

Barriss followed them inside and went over to where Obi-wan and Anakin were preparing something for lunch.

“Looks good,” she commented, adding her fruit to Rex and Ahsoka's pile.

“Thanks,” Anakin grinned. “I'm trying a new recipe.”

She snorted, while Obi-wan rolled his eyes, they all knew that Anakin couldn't cook to save himself, but that didn't stop him from helping Obi-wan, who was the real cook of their group and claiming their creations as his own.

“And what are you calling your latest master piece?” Obi-wan asked drily.

“Hmm,” Anakin frowned thoughtfully, “Tragic accident, I think,” he said after a moment, making Barriss spit out the mouthful of fruit she'd just eaten into her hand as she let out a choked laugh, while Obi-wan turned away, shaking his head, sides quivering with suppressed laughter.

“That's terrible,” she wheezed, wiping her eyes.

“But true,” he smirked and she had to agree, that crab had just been unlucky.

It had been on their last hunting trip, she'd tagged along with Rex and Ahsoka, hoping to pick up some more of the fruits they'd run out of when they'd spotted the crab. Unfortunately, it spotted them too and took off down the branch as they gave chase.

Those crabs were pretty fast when they got going and there'd been little chance of them catching it when it ran head first into the trunk of the tree, dazing itself.

It had then turned around and run back at them in a rather staggered manner until it remembered it was trying to get away from them and decided to the best way to do that was to jump off the branch.

And so it did, practically belly-flopping off the branch and onto the one below, which unfortunately resulted in it's death and becoming their next meal.

She was still chuckling ten minutes later as they all sat down to eat.

“Any day now,” Anakin said, piling food on his plate.

“For what?” Luminara asked.

“Rescue,” he replied. “We were overdue to report in three days ago and factoring in travel time they should be starting to search for us any time now.”

“Perhaps,” Obi-wan said, exchanging a look with Luminara. “But there's a war going on and there's a lot of space we could be in and even if they realise we survived the destruction of our fleet, it'd be next to impossible for them to find us here.”

Anakin just smiled.

“They'll find us,” he said, with such conviction that she couldn't help but think they would be found, even though she was hoping otherwise.

“We'll see,” Obi-wan said quietly.

  


* * *

  


The next day, there was no sign of anything, nor the day that or the day after that.

Still Anakin remained confidant and nothing any of them said could change his mind.

After a week of nothing, his mood began to change and he became more and more sullen and withdrawn and nothing Ahsoka, Rex or even she did could bring him out of it.

Barriss hated watching his certainty collapse, but she couldn't think of anything that would help.

By the end of the second week, he barely spoke, just doing the tasks he needed to do before retreating to his bed and just lying there.

At the end of the third week, Obi-wan called them all together.

“I think we'll have to face it, rescue isn't coming,” he said and they all nodded in agreement, all except Anakin who got to his feet and without a word, went outside.

“Should we go after him?” Barriss asked worriedly.

“No, just give him some time,” Luminara said and the way she said it Barriss couldn't help but think her Master was implying something more than Anakin's current mood, but she couldn't be, Luminara didn't know she had feelings for Anakin, did she?

She glanced curiously at Luminara, but her Master merely raised an eyebrow.  
a small smile on her lips.

“He'll be back,” Luminara went on. “It's not like he can go anywhere,” she added, a small smile on her lips.

Barriss sighed, but nodded and went to find something to keep her occupied, but she couldn't focus as her thoughts kept drifting to Anakin, hoping he was alright and not doing something stupid.

  


* * *

  


As he left the tree that had become their home, Anakin had no clear idea of where he was going, he just had to get away.

So he took off, leaping from tree to tree, trying to wash away his anger, frustration and desperation with speed and burning exertion.

He kept it up for hours, until finally, he could go no further and collapsed against a tree trunk, chest heaving as he reached out to the force, trying to reach out to Padmé, to feel her one last time and let her know he was alright, but to no avail.

Visions of the future he'd promised Padmé, along with all the other things he'd said he'd do for her flashed before his eyes, things he would no longer be able to do.

“I'm sorry Padmé,” he gasped, tears trickling down his cheeks. 

He'd been sitting like that for a while when he felt something change in the force and before he could figure out what it was, his vision blurred, then disappeared as a vision of Padmé appeared before him.

“Padmé,” He gasped, she looked older and a little sadder but otherwise happy wherever she was as a child with dark hair and tanned skin ran up to her and she picked it up, laughing as she held them close, before looking up and seeming to meet his gaze, giving him a small smile before fading away.

As she faded he felt as if a weight had been lifted from him as his despair and anguish, anger and frustration vanished with the knowledge that Padmé would be fine without him.

He took a great, heaving breath, wiped his eyes and stood, still wondering about the vision, but feeling, if not better, then at least at peace with his situation.

“Now, to find my way home,” he said to himself and started back the way he'd come.

  


* * *

  


“Should we go look for him? He's been gone for hours,” Barriss said from where she was standing watch at the entrance.

“He'll be fine,” Ahsoka said, between bites of meat. “He does this a lot, he'll be back.”

“But the sun's setting, it'll be dark soon,” Barriss argued.

“Barriss,” Luminara sighed, “Stop worrying, he'll be back, he knows how it gets after dark.”

Barriss shot her an uncharacteristic glare and resumed her watch, looking out hopefully every time there was a noise.

Finally, almost half an hour later, when all of them were starting to get worried and Ahsoka had even stopped eating, there was a thump of something heavy landing on the branch outside and Anakin stepped inside, a sheepish expression on his face.

“You had us worried,” Barriss said, relief on her face as she gave him a quick hug before stepping back and moving to their makeshift kitchen.

“Sorry about that,” he said, an apologetic look replacing the sheepish one. “I... needed some time.”

“Well, it seems to have worked,” Obi-wan commented as Barriss returned with a plate of food.

“That's understandable,” she said, passing the plate to him, “You must be hungry.”

“I am, thank you,” he said, gratefully taking the plate from her and sitting down.

She grabbed her own plate she'd been unable to eat with him gone and sat down beside him, and there was silence for a while as they ate.

When they were all finished, Anakin and Ahsoka collected their plates, piling them up to be washed later while Barriss passed around some of the sweeter fruits for desert.

“Right, now that we're all here,” Obi-wan said as they all sat down again and Anakin's sheepish expression returned. “We should discuss what we're going to do now.”

“Good idea General,” Rex said.

Obi-wan glanced at Luminara and they shared a silent discussion for a moment before turning back to him.

“That's another thing we wanted to talk about,” Obi-wan added. “Since we're going to be stuck here for what's left of our lives, we think it's only right to drop the titles since they don't really matter anymore anyway.”

“Ah... yes Sir,” Rex responded, a little confused.

“And no Sir either, we have names too you know,” Luminara said, smiling gently.

“Right... S-...Er, Ma'am,” he muttered and Luminara sighed as Ahsoka gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“And that goes for you two as well,” Obi-wan added, glancing between Ahsoka and Barriss.

“Yes Master,” They responded in unison, both grinning.

“Why do I even bother?” he muttered.

“Anyway,” he pressed on. “I think we're all in agreement that rescue is unlikely to come now?”

They all nodded, Anakin still somewhat reluctantly.

“Alright then, first I think we should begin planning out a more permanent residence, something we can defend and will suit all our needs.”

“Yes,” Anakin agreed, “I think our best option is to carve something into one of the trees.”

“I agree,” Luminara added, “And that way we can get exactly what we want and not have to worry about patching up one of these old trunks.”

“And we can get a good location too,” Rex said.

“Alright, then we should also make a list of things we'd like to have or make,” Obi-wan continued. “And I don't know about the rest of you, but I really like the idea of a hammock.”

“I might be able to help with that,” Anakin said quietly and they all turned to him.

Looking slightly uncomfortable with all eyes on him, he explained.

“When I was younger, my mom taught me how to weave and I still remember how to do it so I could teach those that want to how to do it.”

“I'd love to,” Barriss said with a small smile.

“So would we,” Ahsoka added, indicating herself and Rex.

Then everyone began listing things they'd like to have.

Luminara wanted a pillow for meditation and craft supplies, for what though she wouldn't say. Obi-wan agreed and aside from the hammock, also wanted something better to cook with and a fire pit they could use to roast the things they'd caught.

Rex said he wouldn't mind having a set of more appropriate clothing because, as much as he loved his armour, it wasn't the most comfortable thing to be wearing in this kind of environment for long periods of time.

Ahsoka wanted the same thing, saying hers were just getting too small for her, something they'd been planning to do anyway because a tube top wasn't particularly appropriate for a battlefield and Barriss said they could repurpose some of her robes because they were too much for her here.

Anakin wanted craft supplies too and some time to make something to protect their limited electronic.

“And what about you Barriss?” Anakin asked when they'd all finished and she hadn't said anything, “What do you want?”

For some reason, she flushed furiously when he said that and mumbled something incoherent.

Then Luminara changed the subject and they began discussing what to do for supplies, food and water in the long term.

Their discussion continued late into the night as they swapped ideas on farming and ways to do things until the battery on their only lamp died, plunging them into darkness.

“Well, I guess we'll continue in the morning then,” Luminara said.

“We could use a lightsaber?” Ahsoka suggested.

“Nah, save the power cells,” Anakin said.

So they all said good night and felt their way to their beds.

Ahsoka was almost sitting on hers, so she just rolled onto it and listened to the others crawling to theirs, feeling a burst of embarrassment and something else from Barriss as by the sound of it, she and Anakin collided and ended up tangled together.

Smiling to herself as she listened to their mumbled apologies and muffled laughter, Ahsoka heard Rex feeling his way along next to her, trying to find his bed and let out a giggle as his hand briefly touched her Lekku, then pulled back quickly in surprise.

“It's only me,” she giggled, “Are you lost Rex?”

“A little,” he admitted.

“It's alright,” she smiled, “You're not far off,” she said, guiding him the rest of the way.

“Thank you,” he said.

“You're welcome,” she said quietly, returning to her bed and wrapping herself in the blanket.

"Ahsoka?"

"Yeah Rex?"

"Nothing."

"Rex, what is it?"

"It's nothing."

"Rex," she whined, "You have to tell me now, or I'll be up all night wondering."

He sighed.

"I'm glad you're here," he said eventually.

"Me too Rex," she replied. "More than you know," she added softly to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> This might be the last chapter for a while, I intend to spend some time properly planning it out before I go any further and I also want to get my other story to near completion so I can focus on this one too.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, let me know if you enjoyed it.


End file.
